TY - JOUR
T1 - Dealing with emotions
T2 - medical undergraduates’ preferences in sharing their experiences
AU - de Vries-Erich, Joy M.
AU - Dornan, Tim
AU - Boerboom, Tobias B.B.
AU - Jaarsma, A. Debbie C.
AU - Helmich, Esther
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and The Association for the Study of Medical Education.
PY - 2016/8/1
Y1 - 2016/8/1
N2 - Context: Patient care evokes emotional responses such as uncertainty, grief and pride in medical students. There is a need for opportunities to share and express such emotions because they influence students’ professional development and well-being. There is a trend towards introducing mentor programmes into medical curricula. It remains unknown whether students are willing and able to share their emotional experiences within this formal setting. We set out to explore how medical students share their emotional experiences and why. Methods: We used thematic analysis, including purposeful sampling, parallel processes of data collection and constant comparative analysis, maintaining an audit trail for validation purposes. The study had a constructivist, interactional design and used Goffman's dramaturgical theory as an interpretive framework. Nineteen students participated in individual, semi-structured interviews. Results: Participants’ narratives revealed a preference for sharing emotional experiences away from people who might expect them to uphold formal behaviour. They deliberately decided with whom to share their emotional experiences. Participants had a preference to talk to fellow students working in the same department, or family and friends outside medical school. Conclusions: Participants found it difficult to uphold behaviours that they thought patients, preceptors or the organisation expected of them as future doctors. In adjusting their behaviour to meet those expectations, they became attuned to how to best present themselves based on the people present. This influenced how they chose which emotional experiences to share with whom.
AB - Context: Patient care evokes emotional responses such as uncertainty, grief and pride in medical students. There is a need for opportunities to share and express such emotions because they influence students’ professional development and well-being. There is a trend towards introducing mentor programmes into medical curricula. It remains unknown whether students are willing and able to share their emotional experiences within this formal setting. We set out to explore how medical students share their emotional experiences and why. Methods: We used thematic analysis, including purposeful sampling, parallel processes of data collection and constant comparative analysis, maintaining an audit trail for validation purposes. The study had a constructivist, interactional design and used Goffman's dramaturgical theory as an interpretive framework. Nineteen students participated in individual, semi-structured interviews. Results: Participants’ narratives revealed a preference for sharing emotional experiences away from people who might expect them to uphold formal behaviour. They deliberately decided with whom to share their emotional experiences. Participants had a preference to talk to fellow students working in the same department, or family and friends outside medical school. Conclusions: Participants found it difficult to uphold behaviours that they thought patients, preceptors or the organisation expected of them as future doctors. In adjusting their behaviour to meet those expectations, they became attuned to how to best present themselves based on the people present. This influenced how they chose which emotional experiences to share with whom.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84978077142&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/medu.13004
DO - 10.1111/medu.13004
M3 - Article
C2 - 27402042
AN - SCOPUS:84978077142
SN - 0308-0110
VL - 50
SP - 817
EP - 828
JO - Medical Education
JF - Medical Education
IS - 8
ER -