Study protocol for the ETMED-L project: longitudinal study of mental health and interpersonal competence of medical students in a Swiss university using a comprehensive framework of empathy
Introduction Physician interpersonal competence is crucial for patient care. How interpersonal competence develops during undergraduate medical education is thus a key issue. Literature on the topic consists predominantly of studies on empathy showing a trend of decline over the course of medical sc...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMJ Publishing Group
2021-12-01
|
| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/12/e053070.full |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850066313223864320 |
|---|---|
| author | Alexandre Berney Pierre-Alexandre Bart Martin Preisig Valerie Carrard Sylvie Berney Katja Schlegel Jacques Gaume Mehdi Gholam Katarzyna Wac Marianne Schmid Mast Céline Bourquin |
| author_facet | Alexandre Berney Pierre-Alexandre Bart Martin Preisig Valerie Carrard Sylvie Berney Katja Schlegel Jacques Gaume Mehdi Gholam Katarzyna Wac Marianne Schmid Mast Céline Bourquin |
| author_sort | Alexandre Berney |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction Physician interpersonal competence is crucial for patient care. How interpersonal competence develops during undergraduate medical education is thus a key issue. Literature on the topic consists predominantly of studies on empathy showing a trend of decline over the course of medical school. However, most existing studies have focused on narrow measures of empathy. The first aim of this project is to study medical students’ interpersonal competence with a comprehensive framework of empathy that includes self-reported cognitive and affective empathy, performance-based assessments of emotion recognition accuracy, and a behavioural dimension of empathy. The second aim of the present project is to investigate the evolution of mental health during medical school and its putative link to the studied components of interpersonal competence. Indeed, studies documented a high prevalence of mental health issues among medical students that could potentially impact their interpersonal competence. Finally, this project will enable to test the impact of mental health and interpersonal competence on clinical skills as evaluated by experts and simulated patients.Methods and analysis This project consists of an observational longitudinal study with an open cohort design. Each year during the four consecutive years of the project, every medical student (curriculum years 1–6) of the University of Lausanne in Switzerland will be asked to complete an online questionnaire including several interpersonal competence and mental health measures. Clinical skills assessments from examinations and training courses with simulated patients will also be included. Linear mixed models will be used to explore the longitudinal evolutions of the studied components of interpersonal competence and mental health as well as their reciprocal relationship and their link to clinical skills.Ethics and dissemination The project has received ethical approval from the competent authorities. Findings will be disseminated through internal, regional, national and international conferences, news and peer-reviewed journals. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e89e227d973048dcb91b6b2c27f5423f |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2044-6055 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-e89e227d973048dcb91b6b2c27f5423f2025-08-20T02:48:46ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552021-12-01111210.1136/bmjopen-2021-053070Study protocol for the ETMED-L project: longitudinal study of mental health and interpersonal competence of medical students in a Swiss university using a comprehensive framework of empathyAlexandre Berney0Pierre-Alexandre Bart1Martin Preisig2Valerie Carrard3Sylvie Berney4Katja Schlegel5Jacques Gaume6Mehdi Gholam7Katarzyna Wac8Marianne Schmid Mast9Céline Bourquin10Psychiatric Liaison Service, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, SwitzerlandFaculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, SwitzerlandDepartment of Psychiatry, CHUV and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, SwitzerlandFaculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, SwitzerlandGeneral Psychiatry Service, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, SwitzerlandInstitute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, SwitzerlandFaculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, SwitzerlandInstitute of Mathematics, EPFL, Lausanne, SwitzerlandDepartment of Computer Science, University of Geneva, Geneva, SwitzerlandDepartment of Organizational Behavior, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, SwitzerlandPsychiatric Liaison Service, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, SwitzerlandIntroduction Physician interpersonal competence is crucial for patient care. How interpersonal competence develops during undergraduate medical education is thus a key issue. Literature on the topic consists predominantly of studies on empathy showing a trend of decline over the course of medical school. However, most existing studies have focused on narrow measures of empathy. The first aim of this project is to study medical students’ interpersonal competence with a comprehensive framework of empathy that includes self-reported cognitive and affective empathy, performance-based assessments of emotion recognition accuracy, and a behavioural dimension of empathy. The second aim of the present project is to investigate the evolution of mental health during medical school and its putative link to the studied components of interpersonal competence. Indeed, studies documented a high prevalence of mental health issues among medical students that could potentially impact their interpersonal competence. Finally, this project will enable to test the impact of mental health and interpersonal competence on clinical skills as evaluated by experts and simulated patients.Methods and analysis This project consists of an observational longitudinal study with an open cohort design. Each year during the four consecutive years of the project, every medical student (curriculum years 1–6) of the University of Lausanne in Switzerland will be asked to complete an online questionnaire including several interpersonal competence and mental health measures. Clinical skills assessments from examinations and training courses with simulated patients will also be included. Linear mixed models will be used to explore the longitudinal evolutions of the studied components of interpersonal competence and mental health as well as their reciprocal relationship and their link to clinical skills.Ethics and dissemination The project has received ethical approval from the competent authorities. Findings will be disseminated through internal, regional, national and international conferences, news and peer-reviewed journals.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/12/e053070.full |
| spellingShingle | Alexandre Berney Pierre-Alexandre Bart Martin Preisig Valerie Carrard Sylvie Berney Katja Schlegel Jacques Gaume Mehdi Gholam Katarzyna Wac Marianne Schmid Mast Céline Bourquin Study protocol for the ETMED-L project: longitudinal study of mental health and interpersonal competence of medical students in a Swiss university using a comprehensive framework of empathy BMJ Open |
| title | Study protocol for the ETMED-L project: longitudinal study of mental health and interpersonal competence of medical students in a Swiss university using a comprehensive framework of empathy |
| title_full | Study protocol for the ETMED-L project: longitudinal study of mental health and interpersonal competence of medical students in a Swiss university using a comprehensive framework of empathy |
| title_fullStr | Study protocol for the ETMED-L project: longitudinal study of mental health and interpersonal competence of medical students in a Swiss university using a comprehensive framework of empathy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Study protocol for the ETMED-L project: longitudinal study of mental health and interpersonal competence of medical students in a Swiss university using a comprehensive framework of empathy |
| title_short | Study protocol for the ETMED-L project: longitudinal study of mental health and interpersonal competence of medical students in a Swiss university using a comprehensive framework of empathy |
| title_sort | study protocol for the etmed l project longitudinal study of mental health and interpersonal competence of medical students in a swiss university using a comprehensive framework of empathy |
| url | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/12/e053070.full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT alexandreberney studyprotocolfortheetmedlprojectlongitudinalstudyofmentalhealthandinterpersonalcompetenceofmedicalstudentsinaswissuniversityusingacomprehensiveframeworkofempathy AT pierrealexandrebart studyprotocolfortheetmedlprojectlongitudinalstudyofmentalhealthandinterpersonalcompetenceofmedicalstudentsinaswissuniversityusingacomprehensiveframeworkofempathy AT martinpreisig studyprotocolfortheetmedlprojectlongitudinalstudyofmentalhealthandinterpersonalcompetenceofmedicalstudentsinaswissuniversityusingacomprehensiveframeworkofempathy AT valeriecarrard studyprotocolfortheetmedlprojectlongitudinalstudyofmentalhealthandinterpersonalcompetenceofmedicalstudentsinaswissuniversityusingacomprehensiveframeworkofempathy AT sylvieberney studyprotocolfortheetmedlprojectlongitudinalstudyofmentalhealthandinterpersonalcompetenceofmedicalstudentsinaswissuniversityusingacomprehensiveframeworkofempathy AT katjaschlegel studyprotocolfortheetmedlprojectlongitudinalstudyofmentalhealthandinterpersonalcompetenceofmedicalstudentsinaswissuniversityusingacomprehensiveframeworkofempathy AT jacquesgaume studyprotocolfortheetmedlprojectlongitudinalstudyofmentalhealthandinterpersonalcompetenceofmedicalstudentsinaswissuniversityusingacomprehensiveframeworkofempathy AT mehdigholam studyprotocolfortheetmedlprojectlongitudinalstudyofmentalhealthandinterpersonalcompetenceofmedicalstudentsinaswissuniversityusingacomprehensiveframeworkofempathy AT katarzynawac studyprotocolfortheetmedlprojectlongitudinalstudyofmentalhealthandinterpersonalcompetenceofmedicalstudentsinaswissuniversityusingacomprehensiveframeworkofempathy AT marianneschmidmast studyprotocolfortheetmedlprojectlongitudinalstudyofmentalhealthandinterpersonalcompetenceofmedicalstudentsinaswissuniversityusingacomprehensiveframeworkofempathy AT celinebourquin studyprotocolfortheetmedlprojectlongitudinalstudyofmentalhealthandinterpersonalcompetenceofmedicalstudentsinaswissuniversityusingacomprehensiveframeworkofempathy |