“Balint Group” Meetings for Oncology Residents as a Tool to Improve Therapeutic Communication Skills and Reduce Burnout Level

Abstract

Medical training, particularly residency, may pose many challenges and may lead to burnout. Oncology training may be more stressful, given the prolonged exposure to death and dying. Balint group is an intervention method common in medical training, aimed at improving communication skills and strengthening doctor-patient relationships. We arranged for our oncology residents, guided by a senior oncologist and a clinical psychologist, to meet monthly for a discussion of personal cases from the residents' experiences. At the beginning of the year, higher measures in two burnout parameters were found in junior residents compared to senior residents. At the end of the year, the gap in Maslach Burnout Inventory scores between junior and senior residents had decreased, while burnout level decreased slightly during the year in junior residents. It was felt that participation in a Balint group could improve communication abilities of residents and contribute to their feelings of self-accomplishment as doctors.

Is Balint training associated with the reduced burnout among primary health care doctors?

“…Furthermore, a study conducted on the population of 17 Israeli doctors, found that Balint groups can reduce burnout and contribute to their personal accomplishment [7], and these results are consistent with our study. In the US, a study was carried out on 14 doctors and it showed that Balint participants had more developed psychological skills compared to Non-Balint participants [31].…”

“…Since the burnout syndrome is highly prevalent among nonspecialists [7,45], some researchers investigated the differences between specialists and nonspecialists in relation thereto [46] and they found that nonspecialists are more prone to depersonalization.…”

“…Balint groups were named after him [6]. Balint group refers to a method designed to enhancing communication skills among physicians, but also putting emphasis on the doctor–patient relationship [7]. The reason why this education is considered adequate for physicians is not only the improvement of their communication skills but also their psychological skills [8] and training to be able to apply a patient-centered approach [9].…”

“…Prevention of physicians’ burnout via Balint groups has been demonstrated in various studies [7,9,13–17]. The term ‘Burnout’ refers to the dimensions of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment, which most commonly occur with professionals who provide human care.…”

“…headache, fatigue, gastrointestinal disorders), behavioral, emotional and/or defensive symptoms [22–24]. Albeit there are numerous studies on the relation between Balint groups and burnout, they include either a small number of respondents or only consist of case reports and discussions in Balint groups [7,9,13–17]. The present study represents the first research in Serbia in relation to Balint groups and encompasses a large sample size.…”