Changes in Empathy and Mental Resilience in Health Professionals After Completing the Certified “Generic Instructor Course” Seminar

TL;DR

A training course for healthcare professionals increased their empathy but did not significantly affect mental resilience.

Contribution

The study shows that a certified instructor training course can enhance empathy in healthcare professionals.

Findings

Participants showed statistically higher empathy after the GIC compared to baseline and follow-up measurements.

Mental resilience did not show significant changes after the course or follow-ups.

Demographics had no association with changes in empathy or resilience.

Abstract

Introduction: Factors that may affect the performance of healthcare professionals performing resuscitation include stress, social profile, fatigue, empathy, and resilience. Interpersonal skills are required for better performance. This study aimed at evaluating the change in empathy and mental resilience in health professionals who have the status of instructor potential achieved after successfully completing a certified training/intervention course and want to develop/certify as course instructors.

Methods: Healthcare professionals attended the Generic Instructor Course (GIC), a two-day course training instructor candidates from different training courses. Empathy and the cultivation of mental resilience of adult healthcare professional trainers were measured in order to investigate whether participation in a simulated training process can influence these characteristics of the trainer and how these characteristics interact with the training process. Four measurements were recorded: (i) baseline (before the GIC course), (ii) after the course, (iii) follow-up after one month, and (iv) follow-up after three months.

Results: Ninety participants in the GIC course were the study sample. Participants showed statistically higher empathy after participation in the GIC vs. baseline, one-month, and three-month follow-up (p = 0.023). Resilience did not reveal any statistical difference, after the participation in the GIC and follow-up measurements (p = 0.084). For both variables (empathy and resilience), demographics did not have any association with the variables.

Conclusions: Besides its primary aim of training and certifying future instructors in resuscitation courses, the GIC also had a positive impact on the participants' empathy.