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Narcissism and empathy in healthcare professionals

Narcissism and empathy in healthcare professionals
Narcissism and empathy in healthcare professionals
The first section of this thesis is a systematic literature review of interventions to increase empathy in Healthcare Professionals. A total of 17 studies were included. Definitions of empathy, measurement used, sample characteristics, and intervention characteristics were mixed, indicating a range of approaches aiming to increase empathy were considered in the review. Of those interventions examined in the review, none of them accounted for individual differences, instead adopting a ‘one glove fits all’ approach. This may explain why only seven of the reported studies reported significant improvements in empathy. Limitations of the review and areas for future research are identified and discussed.

The second section consists of an empirical research paper investigating the relationship between narcissism and empathy in Healthcare Professionals. Scant research has explored narcissism levels in Healthcare populations. Narcissists lack empathy but can be empathic. Empathy is important for fostering relationships between healthcare professionals and patients. Thus, we designed a study to test whether it is possible to make empathy appealing to a narcissist – by appealing to their agentic motivations. In total, 192 Healthcare Professionals participated in the study. Amongst this population, narcissism predicted lower levels of empathy towards the hypothetical patient. However, we were not successful at making empathy appealing to healthcare professionals scoring higher in narcissism. Implications for theory, clinical practice, and future research is discussed.
University of Southampton
Ingram, Lauren
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Ingram, Lauren
7bb79981-b6fb-4821-af30-53b3fedb7331
Hart, Claire
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Maguire, Tessa
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Ingram, Lauren (2018) Narcissism and empathy in healthcare professionals. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis, 143pp.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

The first section of this thesis is a systematic literature review of interventions to increase empathy in Healthcare Professionals. A total of 17 studies were included. Definitions of empathy, measurement used, sample characteristics, and intervention characteristics were mixed, indicating a range of approaches aiming to increase empathy were considered in the review. Of those interventions examined in the review, none of them accounted for individual differences, instead adopting a ‘one glove fits all’ approach. This may explain why only seven of the reported studies reported significant improvements in empathy. Limitations of the review and areas for future research are identified and discussed.

The second section consists of an empirical research paper investigating the relationship between narcissism and empathy in Healthcare Professionals. Scant research has explored narcissism levels in Healthcare populations. Narcissists lack empathy but can be empathic. Empathy is important for fostering relationships between healthcare professionals and patients. Thus, we designed a study to test whether it is possible to make empathy appealing to a narcissist – by appealing to their agentic motivations. In total, 192 Healthcare Professionals participated in the study. Amongst this population, narcissism predicted lower levels of empathy towards the hypothetical patient. However, we were not successful at making empathy appealing to healthcare professionals scoring higher in narcissism. Implications for theory, clinical practice, and future research is discussed.

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Published date: May 2018

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 445948
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/445948
PURE UUID: c0ffd664-fef7-4def-b71d-0a7e922da7a2
ORCID for Claire Hart: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2175-2474

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 15 Jan 2021 17:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 02:54

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Contributors

Author: Lauren Ingram
Thesis advisor: Claire Hart ORCID iD
Thesis advisor: Tessa Maguire

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