How different dimensions of medical students’ empathy relate to mental health and burnout: Presenter(s): Alexandre Berney, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Switzerland; Sylvie Berney, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Switzerland

Empathy has long been recognized as a multidimensional construct and its different dimensions might relate differently to mental health and burnout. The presence of depression and burnout has been shown to relate to lower empathy in medical students. Nevertheless, studies including different dimensions of empathy when investigating its link to mental health issues are rare in the context of undergraduate medical education, where the first foundations of physicians’ clinical skills are laid. The aim of the present study was thus to investigate how medical students’ mental health (depressive symptoms and anxiety) and burnout relate to different dimensions of empathy. This cross-sectional study included 886 medical students from curriculum years 1 to 6 who filled in an online questionnaire. The cognitive, affective, and behavioural dimensions of empathy were measured with self-report questionnaires and an emotion recognition test. Regressions were used to test the relationship between the empathy dimensions, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and burnout as well as the influence of curriculum year and gender. Cognitive and behavioural empathy were significantly related to less mental health issues and burnout, whereas affective empathy was related to more mental health issues and burnout. Students in later curriculum years reported less mental health issues and burnout than students in earlier years, whereas no systematic difference could be observed for empathy. Female students reported more mental health issues and burnout as well as higher empathy, except for behavioural empathy for which male students scored higher. The cognitive, affective, and behavioural dimensions of empathy were differently related to the mental health and burnout of medical students. Students presenting mental health issues or burnout might have more difficulty to adapt their behaviour in social situations and keep a certain distance when taking the perspective of others.