Medical communication, physicians' adjustment, and therapeutic relationships: exploring potential mechanisms

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Psychology
• Healthcare Communication

Background:

• Physician psychological adjustment and therapeutic relationships are influenced by medical communication competence (MCC).
• Understanding the mediating roles of compassion barriers and expressive suppression is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the associations between MCC, physician psychological adjustment (burnout, flourishing), and therapeutic relationships.
• To investigate the indirect effects of barriers to compassion and expressive suppression in these relationships.

Main Methods:

• A survey of 221 physicians assessed MCC, compassion barriers, expressive suppression, burnout, flourishing, and therapeutic relationships.
• Structural equation modeling and multigroup analyses were used to examine direct and indirect associations and model invariance across experience levels.

Main Results:

• Barriers to compassion and expressive suppression indirectly linked MCC to physician burnout and flourishing.
• Barriers to compassion fully explained the association between MCC and the quality of therapeutic relationships.
• The mediation model demonstrated invariance across physicians with varying years of experience.

Conclusions:

• MCC training should incorporate strategies to overcome compassion barriers and enhance emotion regulation skills.
• Improving physician psychological adjustment and therapeutic relationships through targeted interventions can positively impact healthcare quality.