ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2026
How Do Doctors Sustain Compassion in Healthcare? A Structural Analysis of Compassion-Maintaining Strategies.
Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- It's More than Warm Communication: A Pre-Registered Analysis of Patient's Compassion Priorities.Journal of patient experience · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough a growing body of work is detailing the barriers to compassion in healthcare, few studies have examined how providers sustain compassion over time. Prior studies have predominantly been qualitative.
objectiveExtend prior studies by assessing the structure and likely efficacy of compassion-maintaining strategies.
designSecondary analysis of cross-sectional physician data gathered as part of a larger project (Consedine et al. J Gen Intern Med, 40(9), 2080-2086,
participantsIn the parent study, 1065 patients nominated a primary care physician. Of 575 doctor invitations sent, 219 unique doctors (38.1% of invitees) responded. MAIN MEASURES: Participants provided demographic and training/work data, before completing measures of burnout, trait compassion, compassion strategy use, social desirability, and compassionate behaviour. KEY
resultsPrincipal components analysis revealed two broad classes of compassion-sustaining strategies-compassion-specific (focused directly on the generation and/or maintenance of compassion) and general (focused on general self-care as a means to sustain compassion). Correlations showed that while compassion-specific strategy use was closely linked to greater trait compassion and compassionate behaviour, general self-care strategy use was more closely tied to workload and burnout variables.
conclusionsAlthough compassion is routinely challenged in healthcare, providers use an array of strategies to sustain their compassion for patients. In identifying potential targets for intervention, the current report suggests that while some strategies appear more directly tied to compassion, others are focused on sustaining compassion through self-care. Preparing healthcare trainees and doctors for the challenges to compassion may be supplemented by training in the different ways evidence suggests compassion can be enhanced. The known: Evidence suggests that compassion in healthcare is routinely challenged and can be interfered with by a range of personal, patient, clinical, and environmental factors. The new: Doctors also engage in strategies to sustain compassion, with two broad types in evidence-psychological, compassion-specific strategies and strategies to sustain compassion through self-care. These different strategies have distinct links to patient-facing and occupational health outcomes (e.g., burnout). The implications: Providers use an array of strategies to sustain compassion for patients. In identifying targets for intervention, these data suggest we should target different strategies depending on the outcomes of interest.
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