abstract: Empathy is a critical component of high-quality healthcare. When present in the clinical encounter, empathy is important to physicians (empathy is correlated with reductions in physician anxiety and burnout) and to patients (empathy is correlated with better medical decision making, enhanced trust, and improved treatment adherence). Unfortunately, there is an empathy gap in healthcare–physicians often miss opportunities to demonstrate empathy to their patients. This leaves patients feeling unheard, less likely to bring up details important to their care, and less likely to follow treatment guidelines from physicians, thus disrupting the physician-patient relationship. Luckily, communicating with empathy is a skill that can be taught and learned. With the right tools, learners can strengthen their empathic muscle and become better prepared for responding in difficult situations. The present thesis aims to validate a new tool for teaching empathy to medical trainees. This tool, an empathic communication guide, is drawn from social work as well as medical expertise. It is catered specifically to how medical trainees are accustomed to learning and provides the actual words to say in order to respond with empathy in difficult situations. A group of 8 palliative care fellows at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas received a copy of this guide and participated in an accompanying communication workshop. To gauge empathic responding ability, fellows completed pre- and post- surveys and patient simulations. These data were analyzed using a combination of novel and established methods for quantifying empathic behaviors. Fellows’ empathic communication skill significantly improved after exposure to the guide opening avenues for future study and application. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Social Work 2020

As alterações ocorridas no ambiente de prestação de serviços médicos nos últimos anos são profundas. Como em outras áreas profissionais, a pressão por produtividade, o aumento do volume de informações, a interferência de novas tecnologias, a elevação do custo dos serviços e a concomitante redução do orçamento das fontes pagadoras causam um profundo impacto na relação entre o profissional e seu cliente, o paciente. Esta relação é fundamental para uma boa evolução do tratamento, e para a satisfação e recomendação dos serviços por parte do paciente. Diante do cenário de mudanças sem precedentes nessa delicada relação, a presente dissertação teve por objetivo apresentar formas de aprimorar a relação médico-paciente através da melhora da comunicação entre ambos durante os instantes em que ocorre a interação entre eles, por ocasião da consulta. Para tanto, realizou-se uma revisão teórica e um trabalho de campo exploratório. Na bibliografia consultada, foram apresentados alguns fatores com impacto negativo no atual exercício da profissão médica junto ao paciente, e sua importância foi discutida. A revisão teórica também explorou as expectativas dos pacientes quanto ao atendimento, e o impacto de tais expectativas na percepção do paciente sobre o serviço recebido e no seu comportamento após o atendimento. Com base nos artigos pesquisados, foram apresentados alguns conceitos importantes para a melhora desta relação e da comunicação entre médico e paciente. O trabalho de campo foi realizado por meio de uma pesquisa exploratória e qualitativa, que utilizou como método o estudo de caso único com confrontação teórica. A organização estudada foi o Instituto Dante Pazzanese de Cardiologia, e a unidade de análise estudada foi o processo de comunicação médico-paciente dentro do contexto da organização, e seu impacto na satisfação dos pacientes atendidos. As evidências foram colhidas paralelamente junto a um grupo de médicos residentes e um grupo de pacientes. Em seguida, cada grupo teve suas evidências analisadas individualmente. Foi também realizada a comparação das evidências colhidas de ambos os grupos com a revisão teórica, e identificação dos gaps. Verificou-se que embora o atendimento no Instituto Dante Pazzanese de Cardiologia seja muito bem avaliado, a maioria de seus pacientes menciona a existência de graves problemas em outros centros de atendimento, relacionados à falta de comunicação empática durante a interação médico-paciente, com importantes consequências. Os médicos residentes, por sua vez, mencionaram vários fatores estressores com impacto para médicos, pacientes e seus familiares. A pesquisa concluiu que o paciente se sente satisfeito quando se sente acolhido, quando o médico olha nos seus olhos e fala o seu nome, quando percebe o interesse dele por seu estado de saúde, recebe atenção e informações honestas - adequadas ao seu nível de compreensão. Os conceitos e propostas apresentados na revisão teórica, bem como as conclusões obtidas com este trabalho, podem contribuir para o desenvolvimento de estratégias e treinamentos práticos para os profissionais médicos desenvolverem uma abordagem mais empática com seus pacientes, aumentando o potencial terapêutico da interação. A pesquisa mostrou aplicação prática e impacto social, uma vez que corrobora para o efetivo aumento da intenção de adesão às recomendações médicas. / Changes that have taken place in the medical service environment in recent years are profound. As in other professional areas, the pressure for productivity, the increase in the volume of information, the interference of new technologies, the increase in the cost of services and the concomitant reduction of the budget of paying sources have an essential impact on the relationship between the professional and his client, the patient. This relationship is fundamental for a good evolution of the treatment, and the satisfaction and recommendation of the services by the patient. Given the unprecedented scenario of changes in this delicate relationship, the present dissertation aimed to present ways of improving the doctor-patient relationship through better communication between both during the moments in which the interaction between them occurs. For that, a theoretical review and exploratory fieldwork were carried out. In the bibliography researched, some factors in the current medical profession exercise with a negative impact on patients were presented, and their importance was discussed. The theoretical review also explored patients\' expectations regarding medical service, the impact of such expectations on the patient\'s perception of the service received, and their behavior after that. Based on the articles researched, we presented some important concepts for the improvement of this relationship and the communication between doctor and patient. The fieldwork was carried out through exploratory and qualitative research, which used a single case study method, with theoretical confrontation. The organization studied was Dante Pazzanese Institute of Cardiology, and the unit of analysis studied was the physician-patient communication process within the context of the organization, and its impact on the satisfaction of patients attended. Evidence was collected in parallel with a group of resident physicians and a group of patients. Then, each group had its evidence analyzed individually. The evidence collected from both groups were compared with the theoretical review, and gaps were identified. Although the medical care in Dante Pazzanese Institute of Cardiology is very well evaluated, most of its patients mention the existence of severe problems in other care centers, related to lack of empathic communication during doctor-patient interaction, with significant consequences. Resident physicians mentioned several stressors that had an impact on physicians, patients, and their families. The research concluded that the patient is satisfied when he feels welcomed, when the doctor looks into his eyes and speaks his name, when he realizes doctor\'s interest in his health, and receive honest information and attention - appropriate to his level of understanding. The concepts and proposals presented in the theoretical review, as well as the conclusions obtained with this work, can contribute to the development of strategies and practical training for medical professionals to develop a more empathic approach with their patients, increasing the therapeutic potential of the interaction. This research has practical applications and social impact, as it contributes to increase the intention to adhere to medical recommendations

If you have ever used your phone while on a date to send a text message, or snapped a picture with a friend to upload to Facebook, or cut a sentence down to 140 characters to broadcast on Twitter, you may agree with some leading Social Scientists that technology is changing the way we relate with one another. Our interactions through technology seem to be getting increasingly short with less sophisticated language. More and more, our thoughts are broadcast to everyone instead of intended for someone special. Yet, there is something profoundly human and central to our development that is neglected in these interchanges. Close human relationships---with families, significant others, friends---need complex, intimate, ongoing conversations in order to create and maintain empathic connectivity. In these types of conversations, individuals become part of one another, defined by each other. Together, they change, they grow, they find meaning in life. This is, in essence, what I call Empathic Communication. Until now, this concern has been largely neglected in the field of Human-Computer Interaction, a community of researchers and technology designers who are arguably best positioned to address it. To suggest one path forward, in this dissertation I raise the question of whether computer technologies can become brokers of Empathic Communication between people who care about each other, with a specific focus on intimate partners. How can we conceptualize Empathic Communication, how can we build tools that support it, and how do we know if we have succeeded? I address these questions by creating a simplified model of the therapeutic process of intimate reconnection, or the 4Rs framework---Repattern, Reflect, Restory, Reconnect. Using the 4Rs framework as an ideation tool, I designed and field-tested a technology concept for a dyadic journaling application, Diary Built for Two, that might help romantic partners reconnect through deep communication. Using the 4Rs framework as an evaluation tool, I found that Diary Built for Two enabled more intimate, more thoughtful, more Empathic Communication that changed the way partners saw themselves, one another, and their relationship. Unexpectedly, I found that research interviews I conducted with intimate partners had the same type of therapeutic effect. Simply asking partners questions about their relationship caused them to reflect on and change their understandings of their relationship and each other. To guide other researchers and designers of Empathic Communication Technologies (ECTs), I present a set of specific outcomes of my study. First, I present Symmetric and Asymmetric interface profiles, which identify new human-technology configurations that may better support deep communication---for example, having one shared device between two people, as opposed to one separate device for each. I also share some of the ways in which research interviews may positively and negatively affect study participants towards reconsidering current informed consent practices. Both of these findings showcase the utility of selectively conceptualizing our technology designs as well as our research methods as therapeutic interventions; when we apply the therapy metaphor, new design and research opportunities become apparent. / Ph. D.