Publications by authors named "Katrin U Obst"
Purpose: In this longitudinal study, we investigated the development of empathy during medical education and assessed potential predictors of empathy at different time points in the course of medical studies.
Methods: In our longitudinal study, starting in 2011, we surveyed medical students at Lübeck Medical School, Germany at the beginning of their course of study and after 2, 4, and 6 years (0-3) using standard instruments for empathy (Jefferson Scale of Empathy, Student Version, JSE-S), anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS), stress (Perceived Medical School Stress scale), and behavior and experience patterns (Arbeitsbezogene Verhaltens- und Erlebensmuster [Work-related Behavior and Experience Patterns]).
Results: A total of 43 students completed all surveys.
A stronger consideration of non-cognitive characteristics in Medical School application procedures is desirable. Psychometric tests could be used as an economic supplement to face-to-face interviews which are frequently conducted during university internal procedures for Medical School applications (AdH, Auswahlverfahren der Hochschulen). This study investigates whether the results of psychometric questionnaires measuring non-cognitive characteristics such as personality traits, empathy, and resilience towards stress are vulnerable to distortions of social desirability when used in the context of selection procedures at Medical Schools.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContext: The freshman year of medical school is a stressful period in the lives of future doctors. Resilience to this stress differs greatly, leading to different health outcomes. Less resilient students, whose health may deteriorate early in their education, are at greater risk for developing stress-related diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- The study investigates gender differences in how men and women resist immediate rewards while pursuing higher-order goals, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
- It finds that while both genders show similar responses in certain brain areas linked to immediate rewards, men and women differ in other brain functions related to self-control.
- Specifically, men showed more significant decreases in activation in certain brain regions during self-control tasks and displayed different patterns of connectivity between specific brain areas compared to women, suggesting that gender influences the neural mechanisms of self-control.