Are alexithymia and empathy predicting factors of the resilience of medical residents in France?

Objectives: To explore resilience, resilience predicting factors and resilience distribution in French medical residents.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in which general practice residents (n = 380) were asked to answer the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale. One hundred thirty-seven (137) responses were collected. The scores of the different scales have been calculated. The score differences were examined using the Student's t-test or analysis of variance. The correlations were estimated using the Pearson correlation coefficient. The relationships between scores were analysed by multiple linear regression. The heterogeneity of the sample was examined by non-hierarchical cluster analysis.

Results: Resilience and empathy were positively correlated (r(135) = .36, p< .001). Alexithymia was negatively correlated with resilience, r (135) = -.40,p<.001, and empathy, r (135) = -.38, p<.001. Resilience was influenced by alexithymia, b = -.284, p = .001, empathy, b = .255, p = .002, gender (female < male), b = -.231, p = .002 and year of formation, β = .157, p = .036. Two clusters of residents were characterized. They differed by their empathy and resilience profiles and by alexithymia trait.

Conclusions: Alexithymia, empathy, gender and year of formation correspond to predicting factors of resilience. This suggests that the resilience of vulnerable residents can be enhanced by increasing their empathy and by reducing their alexithymia. Thus, teaching teams could sustain their students' well-being through educational programs aiming to develop their understanding of their own emotions and those of their patients.