Objective

2

To explore the effects of Balint Group on the emotional stability of residents during the standardized training and the improvement of doctor-patient relationship and communication ability

so as to provide a basis for incorporating the activities of Balint Group into the daily management of the standardized training of residents and as an important course in post competency.

Methods

2

From February to December 2021

a simple randomized controlled study was conducted at the First Affiliated Hospital of Suzhou University

40 residents were selected and assigned to two groups. Twenty residents were enrolled in the "experimental group" to participate in the closed Balint group activities; another 20 residents did not participate in the Balint group activities and were treated as the "control group". Tools of Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7

Patient Health Questionnaire-9

and Set the stage

Elicit information

Give information

Understand the patient's perspective

and End the encounter (SEGUE) were applied to evaluate the emotional state

doctor-patient relationship management

and doctor-patient communication skills of residents in the two groups in the third month

sixth month and ninth month of participating in the Balint group. SPSS 22.0 software was used for

t

test

and comparison among three or more groups was conducted by analysis of variance. Repeated measures data involving two factors were analyzed by repeated measures analysis of variance.

Results

2

In the assessment of anxiety state

the scores in the experimental group decreased gradually from the sixth month to the ninth month

and there was a significant difference in the interaction effect between time and group (

F

=14.57

P

<

0.001). In the assessment of depressive state

there was a significant difference in the interaction effect between time and group (

F

=33.25

P

<

0.001)

and the depression self-score in the experimental group decreased gradually

with an gradually increased difference between the two groups. Compared with the control group

the experimental group had significantly improvements in three dimensions of information collection

information giving

and understanding of patients. The total SEGUE score in the experimental group was improved significantly after nine months of training compared wi

th the baseline value [(107.20±2.16) vs. (92.55±4.37)

t

=7.26

P

<

0.001

]

. The repeated measures analysis of variance showed that there were significant differences between the two groups in terms of information giving (

F

=3.01

P

=0.045) and total SEGUE score (

F

=6.29

P

=0.002) under the assessment of interaction between time and group.

Conclusions

2

Balint groups can alleviate residents' anxiety and depression and play an important role in maintaining stable mood. Balint groups have an advance effect on improving residents' doctor-patient communication skills

especially in information collection

information feedback and giving

and understanding of patients.