Abstract

RODRIGUES SAMPAIO, Leonardo; COELHO DE OLIVEIRA, Letícia  and  FRANCA DOURADO NETO PIRES, Michelle. Empathy, depression, anxiety and stress in Brazilian Health Professionals. Cienc. Psicol. [online]. 2020, vol.14, n.2, e2215.  Epub June 12, 2020. ISSN 1688-4094.  https://doi.org/10.22235/cp.v14i2.2215.

The present study investigated the relationships among empathy, depression, anxiety, and stress among Brazilian Health Professionals (BHP). Two hundred participants (87% women), aged 22 to 67 (M = 35.1; SD = 9.7) responded the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1983), the Stress Symptoms Inventory (Lipp, 2000), the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Beck Anxiety Inventory. Positive correlations among depression, anxiety and stress were found, as well as among anxiety, depression, personal distress and fantasy. Regression analysis indicated that the cognitive aspects of empathy can predict symptoms of depression. Overall, results suggest that empathy can be associated with the Mental Health of the BHP. The paper discusses the need to be attentive for this specific relationship, considering its importance for professional practices of these workers, as well as for research on the field of Psychology of Health and other related fields.

Keywords : anxiety; depression; stress; empathy; health professionals.

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