BACKGROUND Physician empathy has been associated with improved clinical outcomes and lower physician burnout. We evaluated whether forum theater (FT), a form of applied drama that allows participants to enter the performance and represent the actions associated with emotions, would foster empathy in medical students, and which underlying variables would be associated to empathy scores. METHODS Three classes totaling 488 fourth-year medical students participated in the study. Forum theater was used to explore difficult encounters with patients and family members: announcement of cancer, fall at home of an elderly person requiring hospitalization, appointment with a patient suffering from depression, announcement of diabetes in an adolescent. The first scene was played by actors in front of a group of students, then audience members were asked to enter the performance and, by taking over the role of the "physician-actor," to explore alternative interactions. All the students followed two sessions as actors and observers in random order and were randomly assigned to FT sessions after 36 or 56 weeks of clinical rotations. They completed the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JFSE) anonymously. RESULTS Students were 22.1 ± 1.5 years old (43% males). Empathy scores increased after each session: 102.0 ± 9.8 before the sessions, 106.3 ± 9.8 after session 1 and 107.8 ± 11.5 after session 2 (p <  0.05). In regression models, gender (F vs. M, + 3.0 ± 1.0, p <  0.001) and position in the session (actor vs. observer, + 2.1 ± 1.0, p < 0.05) were significant determinants of JFSE scores, whereas age, session theme, and duration of clinical rotation were not. CONCLUSION Being an actor in forum theater was a valuable tool for enhancing empathy scores in medical students.

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论坛剧场中与患者的艰难相处以提高学生的同理心的阶段：在昂热大学医学院的疗效评估。

背景技术医师的同理心与改善的临床结果和降低的医生倦怠有关。我们评估了论坛剧场（FT）是一种实用的戏剧形式，它使参与者能够进入表演并代表与情感相关的动作，是否会促进医学生的同理心，以及哪些潜在变量会与同情得分相关联。方法总共488名四年级医学生的三个班级参加了研究。论坛剧院曾被用来探讨与患者及其家人的艰难遭遇：癌症的宣布，需要住院治疗的老人在家中倒塌，与抑郁症患者的约会，青少年的糖尿病发作。第一幕是演员在一群学生面前表演的，然后，要求观众成员参加表演，并接任“医师—演员”的角色，探索其他互动方式。所有学生按照随机顺序跟随演员和观察员的两个会话，并在临床轮换36或56周后随机分配到FT会话。他们匿名完成了杰斐逊医师共情量表（JFSE）。结果学生的年龄为22.1±1.5岁（男性占43％）。每次会议后，移情得分均增加：会议前为102.0±9.8，会议后为106.3±9.8，会议后为107.8±11.5（p <0.05）。在回归模型中，性别（F对M，+ 3.0±1.0，p <0.001）和会话中的位置（演员对观察者，+ 2.1±1.0，p <0.05）是JFSE分数的重要决定因素，而年龄，会议主题，和临床轮换的持续时间没有。结论在论坛剧院中扮演演员是提高医学生同理心得分的宝贵工具。