Articles: empathy.
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Journal of medical ethics · May 2011
How is informed consent related to emotions and empathy? An exploratory neuroethical investigation.
Informed consent is crucial in daily clinical practice and research in medicine and psychiatry. A recent neuroethical investigation explored the psychological factors that are crucial in determining whether or not subjects give consent. While cognitive functions have been shown to play a central role, the impact of empathy and emotions on subjects' decisions in informed consent remains unclear. ⋯ This study shows an empirical relationship between decision-making and informed consent, on the one hand, and emotions and empathy on the other. While this study is exploratory and preliminary, the findings of a relationship between informed consent, emotions and empathy raise important neuroethical questions with regard to an emotional-social concept of informed consent and potential clinical implications for testing informed consent.
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We examined patients with a heritable disorder associated with a mutation affecting the nerve growth factor beta gene. Their condition has been classified as hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy type V. Carriers of the mutation show a reduction in density of thin and unmyelinated nerve fibres, including C afferents. ⋯ Further, patients' blood-oxygen-level-dependent responses in posterior insular cortex--a target for C afferents--were not modulated by stimulation optimal for activating C-tactile afferents. Hence, perception of the hedonic aspect of dynamic touch likely depends on C-tactile afferent density. Closely similar patterns between individuals' ratings of felt and seen touch suggest that appraisal of others' touch is anchored in one's own perceptual experience, whether typical or atypical.
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Compassion fatigue is a relatively new term in nursing. This term describes mood swings experienced by healthcare providers that are both complex in origin and intensify over time due to cumulative stress. Quality of care can be affected if compassion fatigue goes untreated. ⋯ Identified antecedents of compassion fatigue included: (1) working as a healthcare provider; (2) investing sympathy in others over a long period of time; and (3) ignoring stress symptoms and personal emotional needs over time. Identified consequences of compassion fatigue included: (1) decreased coping ability; (2) damage / destruction of patient relationship; and (3) increased medical care costs. This study conducted a concept analysis to offer a better understanding of the concept of compassion fatigue and provide a reference for nursing practice and compassion fatigue-related nursing research.
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The present study examined the practice of forgiveness in Nepal. A model relating collectivism and forgiveness was examined. ⋯ Forgiveness was strongly related to conciliatory behavior and motivations for avoidance and revenge toward the offender. Decisional forgiveness was a stronger predictor of motivations for revenge than was emotional forgiveness.
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Research suggests that medical student empathy erodes during undergraduate medical education. The authors evaluated the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy Medical Student Version (JSPE-MS) scores of two consecutive medical school classes to assess the impact of an educational intervention on the preservation of empathy. ⋯ Maintaining empathy during the third year of medical school is possible through educational intervention. A curriculum that includes safe, protected time for third-year students to discuss their reactions to patient care situations during clerkships may have contributed to the preservation of empathy. Programs designed to validate humanism in medicine (such as the GHHS) may reverse the decline in empathy as measured by the JSPE-MS.