Empathy, spirituality and wellness in physicians practicing at Brazilian university hospitals: a multicentric study

ABSTRACT Objective: This multicentric study aimed to evaluate empathy, openness to spirituality, and wellness among physicians in Brazilian university hospitals, fundamental in medical training. Methods: This multicentric cross-sectional study included 1,000 physicians of any age or gender, with at least six months of experience in public or private university hospitals affiliated with the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS). The Empathy, Spirituality, and Wellness in Medicine Scale (ESWIM), validated in Brazil, was used, with scores ranging from 1 to 5, where higher scores indicate greater empathy, openness to spirituality, or wellness. The statistical analysis included Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests with a significance level of 0.05. Results: Of the 1,000 physicians invited, 445 completed the survey. The median scores (interquartile range) were 3.90 (0.60) for empathy, 4.00 (0.67) for openness to spirituality, and 3.00 (0.86) for wellness. No significant differences in empathy were found between genders (p=0.047). Factors such as family dynamics (p=0.003), academic roles (p=0.004), and parental status (p=0.003) were associated with higher empathy scores. Younger physicians demonstrated greater openness to spirituality (p=0.019), with regional variations observed. Wellness scores were influenced by gender, experience, age, specialty, academic degree, and frontline COVID-19 duties, with frontline clinicians exhibiting lower wellness scores (p<0.001). Conclusions: Empathy, openness to spirituality, and wellness among physicians in Brazilian university hospitals are influenced by various characteristics.