Number
408
Name
Impact of Brief Self-Compassion Training (BSCT) on the Stress, Empathy, and Emotional Intelligence of First-Year Medical Students
Date & Time
Sunday, June 15, 2025, 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Location Name
Exhibition Hall C
Speakers
Yashi Ballal - Central Michigan University
Presentation Topic(s)
Instructional Methods
Description

Purpose
Medicine is a stressful career where burnout can occur during the early years of training. It has been attributed to a student’s first encounter with human cadavers, which is intensified by feelings of distress, anxiety and sadness. This can lead to increased stress due to a lack of training in the development of empathy and emotional intelligence. This significantly shapes their perception of patient care and detrimentally affects healthcare delivery. This underscores the need for compassion training, though its incorporation in medical education is sparse and largely undocumented. Therefore, the aims of this study were to assess the impact of Brief Self-Compassion Training (BSCT) on empathy, emotional intelligence, and stress of first-year medical students.

Methods
First-year medical students (n=107) underwent a structured BSCT program during the introductory anatomy course. This course was offered during the initial six weeks in the first-year medical curriculum, where students were taught through human cadavers. During the third week of the course, students received a Brief Self-Compassion Training (BSCT) training session that incorporated contemplative practices related to compassion training. The impact of BSCT on the empathy, emotional intelligence and stress of these students was analyzed before (week 2) and after (week 6) of the training.

Results
Following training in BSCT there was a significant increase in empathy (p= 0.34, effect size= 0.76) and emotional intelligence (p= 0.49, effect size= 0.61) of students. However, there were no significant changes in the levels of stress (p= 0.62).

Conclusion
Hence training in BSCT should be an essential component of an evolving medical curriculum that aims to enhance the essential components of professionalism. Consequently, this study could represent a paradigm shift in the pedagogy of anatomy and contribute to the evolution of a revitalized anatomy curriculum.

Funding
This study was funded by a grant to Yashi Ballal from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

Presentation Tag(s)
Student Presentation