Associations of emotional intelligence and gratitude with empathy in medical students

Abstract

Background: Empathy is an essential quality for physicians and medical trainees. This study aimed to examine the associations of emotional intelligence (EI) and gratitude with empathy in medical students. Methods: We conducted this cross-sectional study at three medical schools in China. A pack of self-reported questionnaires, consisting of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF), the Gratitude Questionnaire-6 (GQ-6), and demographic section were distributed to the students. Results: A pool of 1392 students became the final participants. After adjustment for the demographics, trait EI and gratitude were positively related to Perspective Taking and Empathic Concern, accounting for 33.1 and 22.7% of their variance, respectively. While trait EI was strongly and negatively associated with Personal Distress, gratitude was modestly and positively associated with it, and they collectively explained 29.1% of its variance. Conclusions: Trait EI and gratitude could be vital psychological constructs for understanding empathy in medical students. The positive roles they may play could be considered when intervention strategies and programs are designed to enhance the professional competencies in medical students.

<p>Big Five Personality Traits and Gratitude: The Role of Emotional Intelligence</p>

“… 18 Moreover, emotional intelligence is considered to foster trust, 19 contributes to positive relationships with others thanks to interpersonal (social) and intrapersonal (self) dimensions, 20 and is related to positive emotional states, 21 and gratitude. 22 The mediational model suggests the presence of a potential intervening mechanism through which these variables may affect gratitude. In this sense, emotional intelligence was assumed to be a mediator that explains why personality traits may result in a grateful disposition.…”

“… 29 , 69 , 70 According to Watkins 29 and Ludovino, 71 emotional intelligence can be essential for grateful responding since being able to manifest gratitude is a part of having emotional intelligence. Perceiving and valuing positive aspects in the world that characterize gratitude 22 are possible thanks to skills which derive from emotional intelligence, such as establishing interpersonal relationships and maintaining their quality. 72 This directional pattern seems to have its solid grounding in some findings 73 that show emotional intelligence as an important predictor of life outcomes.…”

The Usefulness of a Massive Open Online Course about Postural and Technological Adaptations to Enhance Academic Performance and Empathy in Health Sciences Undergraduates

“…Emotional intelligence (EI) is a relevant trait for students, particularly in health sciences and medicine [14]. EI is defined as the ability to understand and direct both one's own emotions and those of other people.…”

“…EI is defined as the ability to understand and direct both one's own emotions and those of other people. This is linked to an increase in empathy, which is why empathy is a key variable within EI [14,15]. Empathy is considered a very important quality both for students and health workers [14,16].…”

Trait Emotional Intelligence and Its Correlates with the Level of Burnout Syndrome among First-year Resident Physicians in Oman

“…There is controversy on whether emotional intelligence is the ability or dispositional tendency [22]. On one hand, emotional intelligence as the ability has received wide attention in terms of how it correlates with wellbeing [23], and on the other hand, emotional intelligence as a dispositional tendency has received scant attention with a few exceptions [24][25][26][27]. More studies are therefore required to explore how speci cally dispositional tendency in emotional intelligence tends to strongly moderate and mediate trajectories of burnout [19][20][21].…”