Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Nov;57(6):508-520.
doi: 10.1177/00912174221127084. Epub 2022 Sep 14.

The Juice is Worth the Squeeze: Psychiatry Residents' Experience of Balint Group

Prathiksha Nalan  1 , Alexandra Manning  1
Affiliations

The Juice is Worth the Squeeze: Psychiatry Residents' Experience of Balint Group

Prathiksha Nalan et al. Int J Psychiatry Med. 2022 Nov.

Abstract

Introduction: Balint Groups provide physicians with a forum to develop their capacity to empathically engage with patients, through exploring patient-provider relationships. The Dalhousie University Department of Psychiatry implemented a mandatory Balint Group as part of the junior resident curriculum. The purpose of this study is to explore how residents describe their experience of participating in this Balint Group.

Methods: Psychiatry residents in their first year of training participated in a focus group to discuss their experiences of the Balint Group. Data was analyzed using content analysis.

Results: Three main categories were identified: the purpose of, the process of, and participation in the Balint Group. Process was subdivided into Balint Frame and Institutional Factors. Participation was further subdivided into vulnerability, reflection, fellowship, and validation.

Conclusion: Residents attributed fellowship with their peers, self-efficacy and hope in their work to their participation in the Balint Group. While there was an adjustment period, residents grew to accept, and even appreciate the group. Lack of problem-solving became accepted as part of the purpose of the group and this acceptance was attributed to having other avenues within the program to address problems raised in the discussion. Feeling disconnected when the session ended was described and was related to the abrupt termination of the virtual session or having to exit the group early to return to clinical duties. While the virtual nature of the group was not explicitly identified as a challenge, having to leave early was. While these institutional factors can be mitigated through programmatic implementation, they are not a deal breaker to implementing a Balint Group in a residency training program. Even in a lunch hour or virtual environment our data suggests that the juice is worth the squeeze.

Keywords: Balint group; burnout; medical education; psychiatry; residency.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Mach-Gaensslen Foundation of Canada ($5000).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Coding Frame.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Salinsky J. Balint groups and the Balint method. Supervision and Support in Primary Care. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press; 200379-90.
    1. Milberg L. From the Keynote Address, “Balint Groups from the perspective of a teacher,” presented at the Balint Weekend Meeting at Exeter College, Oxford, UK, 2002. J Balint Soc. 2003;31:34.
    1. Bengtsson M.. How to plan and perform a qualitative study using content analysis. NursingPlus Open. 2016;2:8-14.
    1. Yahyavi ST, Amini M, Sheikmoonesi F. Psychiatric residents’ experience of Balint Groups: A qualitative study using phenomenological approach in Iran. J Adv Med Educ Prof. 2020;8(3):134-139. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yazdankhahfard M, Haghani F, Omid A. The Balint group and its application in medical education: A systematic review. J Educ Health Promot. 2019;8:124. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources