Muramatsu Eishin, Takahashi Noriyuki, Aomatsu Muneyoshi, Suematsu Mina, Miyazaki Kei
Nagoya University School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan.
Department of Education for Community-Oriented Medicine, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 466-8550, Japan.
BMC Prim Care. 2025 Apr 26;26(1):130. doi: 10.1186/s12875-025-02834-w.
Empathy in general practice is important because it contributes to patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes. However, few studies have examined the perceptions of empathy of attending physicians, who are skilled medical practitioners. From the perspective of interpretive phenomenology, we conducted the present study to conceptualize perceptions of empathy in attending general practitioners, and to identify experiences that influenced these perceptions.
We conducted four semi-structured interviews with three board-certified attending general practitioners. The transcripts were analyzed using the Steps for Coding and Theorization procedure. The four components of empathy (moral, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral) were used as the theoretical framework for the analysis.
We found that the participants exhibited the moral component of empathy, such that they felt they were on a mission to understand and support their patients. Furthermore, they mainly used cognitive empathy to understand the feelings and thoughts of their patients. The participants also used behavioral empathy to convey a sense of understanding to their patients, with the intent of building trust and creating an atmosphere in which the patients felt relaxed and able to speak freely. In contrast, emotional empathy was less frequent because the participants observed emotional boundaries related to professionalism.
This study revealed new details about how attending general practitioners coordinate the four components of empathy and how they balance humanistic care with their objective standpoint as physicians. These findings are important in that they provide a model for physicians in terms of providing empathetic care while maintaining professional boundaries.
全科医疗中的同理心很重要，因为它有助于提高患者满意度和改善临床治疗效果。然而，很少有研究考察过主治医师（经验丰富的医学从业者）对同理心的看法。从解释现象学的角度出发，我们开展了本研究，以对全科主治医师的同理心认知进行概念化，并确定影响这些认知的经历。
我们对三名获得委员会认证的全科主治医师进行了四次半结构化访谈。使用编码和理论化步骤程序对访谈记录进行分析。同理心的四个组成部分（道德、情感、认知和行为）被用作分析的理论框架。
我们发现，参与者表现出了同理心的道德组成部分，即他们觉得自己肩负着理解和支持患者的使命。此外，他们主要运用认知同理心来理解患者的感受和想法。参与者还运用行为同理心向患者传达理解感，目的是建立信任并营造一种让患者感到放松且能够畅所欲言的氛围。相比之下，情感同理心的运用频率较低，因为参与者遵守了与专业精神相关的情感界限。
本研究揭示了关于全科主治医师如何协调同理心的四个组成部分，以及他们如何在作为医生的客观立场与人文关怀之间取得平衡的新细节。这些发现很重要，因为它们为医生在提供同理心关怀的同时保持专业界限提供了一个典范。
