Intolerance of Uncertainty and Self-Compassion in Medical Students: Is There a Relationship and Why Should We Care?

Poluch, Maria; Feingold-Link, Jordan; Papanagnou, Dimitrios; Kilpatrick, Jared; Ziring, Deborah; Ankam, Nethra

Intolerance of Uncertainty and Self-Compassion in Medical Students: Is There a Relationship and Why Should We Care?

Poluch, Maria; Feingold-Link, Jordan; Papanagnou, Dimitrios; Kilpatrick, Jared; Ziring, Deborah; Ankam, Nethra

Abstract

Managing the uncertainty of clinical practice represents a significant source of stress for clinicians, including medical students transitioning into the clinical workplace. Self-compassion, a strategy to better cope with stress and burnout, may represent a skill that can be leveraged to better prepare learners for the uncertainty inherent in clinical practice. A negative correlation between intolerance of uncertainty and self-compassion has been demonstrated in undergraduate students and in the general population. An examination of this relationship in medical students may help inform future curricular development for addressing burnout in undergraduate medical education. We electronically administered the Intolerance of Uncertainty Short Scale and the Self-Compassion Short Form to 273 third-year medical students from a single institution and analyzed data via regression. A significant negative correlation was found between intolerance of uncertainty and self-compassion (p?

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Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development
2022
Profession(s)
Physicians
Topic(s)
Burnout
Stress/Trauma
Resource Types
Peer-Reviewed Research
Study Type(s)
Nonexperimental / Observational Study
Action Strategy Area(s)
Physical & Mental Health
Setting(s)
Academic
Academic Role(s)
Students