The Impact of a Physician Awareness Group and the First Year of Training on Hematology-Oncology Fellows
To assess the impact of a Balint-like physician awareness group on hematology-oncology fellows' attitudes and measure changes in attitudes during the first fellowship year. We used a modified crossover design in which one half of a fellowship class at a time was exposed to the group interventio...
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Published in | Journal of clinical oncology Vol. 21; no. 19; pp. 3676 - 3682 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Baltimore, MD
American Society of Clinical Oncology
01.10.2003
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | To assess the impact of a Balint-like physician awareness group on hematology-oncology fellows' attitudes and measure changes in attitudes during the first fellowship year.
We used a modified crossover design in which one half of a fellowship class at a time was exposed to the group intervention over a 2-year period (2000 to 2002). Two 14-fellow classes were followed for 1 year each and were given three "attitudes" questionnaires, at the beginning, middle, and end of the academic year.
Forty Balint group sessions were held during the 2-year study period; 82 questionnaires of the 84 administered (98%) were recovered. Instrument content and criterion validity were demonstrated, as was topic domain reliability. Overall, mean attitude scores increased following the group intervention, from 3.6 (95% CI, 3.5 to 3.7) to 3.7 (95% CI, 3.6 to 3.8; P =.09). Within domains, scores increased in a "fellow's views of him/herself as a physician," from 3.8 (95% CI, 3.6 to 3.9) to 4.1 (95% CI, 3.9 to 4.2; P =.008) and "comfort dealing with emotional patient/clinical situations," from 3.5 (95% CI, 3.3 to 3.7) to 3.7 (95% CI, 3.6 to 3.9; P =.11). Changes in responses to individual questions included: an increase in fellows' comfort with the technical aspects of being an oncologist (P <.03); an increase in fellows' comfort with discussing the stress of home at work (P <.023); and an increase among fellows in feeling pressed for time to discuss psychosocial issues with patients (P =.035).
A physician awareness group was feasible and enhanced fellows' development as physicians. Further research is needed to determine how to incorporate such groups into oncology fellowships. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0732-183X 1527-7755 |
DOI: | 10.1200/JCO.2003.12.014 |