Residents' use of humanistic skills and content of resident discussions in a support group

In a 1983 position paper, the American Board of Internal Medicine stressed the importance of teaching humanistic skills to residents; however, how to teach or measure these skills is not well defined. In this study, the content of discussion (personal and professional problems) and processing of four humanistic skills (empathy, level of regard, unconditionality, and congruence) by Bowman Gray School of Medicine first year general medicine residents was observed. Fourteen videotapes of support group meetings from 1986 to 1988 were reviewed for humanistic relationship behaviors using the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory and for the types of personal and professional problems discussed using a content inventory. Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory scores for empathy and regard paralleled increases in the number of professional problems raised at midyear, a time of maximum stress for residents. Congruence scores became flat after an initial peak while unconditionality scores remained low. Interventions designed to improve residents' use of humanistic skills could take into account residents' need for support and education, as well as the natural flow of humanistic behaviors within residency programs.