Clinical Empathy and Emotional Contagion Perspectives in Health Pre-Professional Students

This study highlights the perspectives of pre-medical students on the role of empathy and emotional contagion in the clinical encounter, as well as its implications on clinical decision-making. Empathy is a multi-dimensional phenomenon that describes the ability to sense and feel the emotions of another, while emotional contagion refers to the human tendency to match the other’s emotional state. We sent a survey to 180 pre-medical students, collecting responses designed to test how students view empathy and emotional contagion in terms of definition, utility, and importance. We also tested the extent to which pre-medical students feel that empathy is taught or learned during or before undergraduate education. Utilizing qualitative research methods and open-coding strategies, we found that students hold pre-conceptualized definitions of empathy, as well as have an understanding of how it is felt and portrayed by the clinical setting, consistent with theories of anticipatory socialization. Students also admit to the significance of empathy in a physician, reporting that empathy should be a trait required for entrance into medical school and should be taught more frequently in undergraduate education. However, this study simultaneously demonstrates the adoption of “clinical empathy” amongst pre-medical students, suggesting an early onset of the perceived importance of detachment and objectivity in medicine. Yet, we also highlight the perceived importance of emotional contagion amongst pre-medical students, mainly in the formation and development of the patient-physician relationship. Further research into the development of these empathy and emotional contagion perspectives in relation to one another is important in examining the development of the future physician.