Associations between empathy and personality in family physicians

Objectives: Empathy promotes positive physician-patient communication and is associated with improved patient satisfaction and treatment adherence. Personality influences the physician's empathy. This study attempted to study various factors that may influence the doctor's empathy, especially her/his personality. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among public health physicians practicing in Sfax. Self-reported questionnaires including the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) and the Big Five Inventory (BFI). Hierarchical regression analysis was performed to explore the effects of big five personality traits on empathy. Results: The average age of physicians was 45.35 years old. The average score of empathy was 96.24. We found that leisure activity was the most predictive factor of clinical empathy (P = 0.03, β = −0.254, R2 = 24.1%), and that leisure activity, childcare, and time spent with family members were associated with empathic concern (P = 0.005, β = −0.328, P = 0.042, β = −0.324 and P = 0.015, β = −0.287). Having knowledge of psychotherapy was significantly associated with perspective-taking (P = 0.012, β = −0.298, R2 = 30.4%). The number of hours of work had an association with personal distress (P = 0.029, β = −0.323, R2 = 9.4%). Discussion: Despite the limitations of our survey, the results highlighted the link between empathy, professional well-being, and personality traits relating to extraversion and agreeableness in family physicians. This is consistent with some studies. Conclusion: Our work has highlighted the determinants of empathy. The doctor's well-being allows her/him better communication and heightened empathy. The different methods that can improve empathy according to the personality of the doctor remain to be developed later.