Empatia clínica e satisfação por compaixão em médicos/as: Análise de mediadores potenciais
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31211/rpics.2025.11.1.346Palavras-chave:
Compaixão, Empatia Clínica, Médicos/as, Relações Médico-Paciente, Estudo Quantitativo TransversalResumo
Contexto: A empatia clínica é um atributo intrínseco à profissão médica, estando associada a níveis mais elevados de satisfação por compaixão em médicos/as. Contudo, pouco se sabe acerca dos mecanismos mediadores e potencialmente modificáveis subjacentes a essa relação. Objetivo: Este estudo visou analisar os efeitos diretos e indiretos da empatia clínica nos níveis de satisfação por compaixão em médicos/as, considerando como mediadores a qualidade das relações terapêuticas e as barreiras à compaixão. Métodos: Uma amostra de 222 médicos/as, recolhida exclusivamente online, preencheu um conjunto de instrumentos de autorresposta. Os efeitos diretos e indiretos foram explorados utilizando modelos de equações estruturais. Resultados: A empatia clínica relacionou-se moderada e positivamente com a qualidade das relações terapêuticas e com a satisfação por compaixão, e negativamente com as barreiras à compaixão. Observou-se um efeito indireto da empatia sobre a satisfação por compaixão, tanto através da qualidade das relações terapêuticas (b = 0,05, 95%IC [0,02; 0,10]), como das barreiras à compaixão (b = 0,02, 95% IC [0,01; 0,05]). O modelo explicou 31% da variabilidade nos níveis de satisfação por compaixão. Conclusões: Níveis mais elevados de empatia em médicos/as poderão favorecer satisfação por compaixão, mediada por relações terapêuticas de melhor qualidade e da perceção de menos barreiras à compaixão. Intervenções focadas nesses fatores poderão melhorar a saúde mental positiva destes/as profissionais.
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Direitos de Autor (c) 2025 Francisca Rosa, Ana Alves-Nogueira, Cláudia Melo, Maria Cristina Canavarro, Carlos Carona
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