Eva Fabino ’24
Helping Yourself to Help Others: Understanding the Impact of Empathy on Providers in the Healthcare System
Eva Fabino ’24, Social Work and Psychology major
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Katherine Kranz, Social Work
Oral Presentation: Wednesday, April 24, 10:24 a.m.
Empathy is commonly recognized as an important factor of quality medical care and positive patient-provider relationships. Past literature highlights, however, that many healthcare providers utilize a distorted practice of empathy known within the medical field as “clinical empathy” in order to avoid burnout and fatigue associated with experiencing the vicarious trauma of their patients. This study aims to evaluate the use of empathy and clinical empathy within the healthcare system to address a concern for provider mental health practices. The integration of the social work practice of supervision, or peer support, is discussed as a method of intervention to allow providers to discuss and process instances of burnout and vicarious trauma as experienced within the medical field. Past, present, and future health care providers (N = 21) were collected to complete a four-part survey related to empathy and mental health practices. Participants were divided into two groups based on their professional tracks in order to compare empathy scores between groups. Data was analyzed using an independent samples t-test and researcher identification of trends among provider survey answers. Results found empathy scores among providers to be high, however, they did not differ statistically between provider groups. Additionally, patterns in data revealed provider openness to process on the job experiences with peers to promote positive mental health practices within the healthcare system.
