Iranian Physicians’ Experience of Participation in a Balint Group Trial: A Qualitative Study

Psychosomatic Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Psychosomatic Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Associate Professor, Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Psychosomatic Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Professor, Psychosomatic Research Center AND Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Professor, Psychosomatic Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences AND Danesh-e-Tandorosti Institute, Isfahan, Iran AND Energy Medicine University, California, USA

Professor, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Family Therapy, Albert Ludwig University Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany


Abstract

Balint Work is getting introduced and Balint Group Trials are being held in Iran in recent years. This is the first study of a Balint–group–trial participated by Iranian General Practitioners (GPs). This was a qualitative study to explore the themes which feature the GP’s described experience of their participation. A phenomenological approach was applied to examine the GPs’experience of participation in a seven-session Balint-group-trial. The participants were eight Iranian GPs working in the primary health-care network of Natanz-Iran. A focus group and in-depth semi-structured interviews were applied and the transcribed Verbatim were analyzed through a phenomenological explorative and descriptive process by a three-membered research team. Three ground themes and four main-themes emerged as the main features through which the participant-GPs had explained their experience. The main themes were1– Improving the Skills and Wisdom of Doctor-Patient-Relationship 2- Exceptional Training Method/Learning Experience 3- Emotional healing for doctors 4-Job Morality Inspirations. Iranian physicians described their participation in a Balint group trial as a missing, needed and valuable experience of different sort of a peer-discussion-group, an insight-inducing and skill-improving one and an emotionally-supportive one. Minor particularities and major similarities were found between the participation experience as portrayed by Iranian physicians and by physicians of other countries. The study also adds a demonstration of the trans-cultural nature of the Balint group experience.

Keywords


  • Qualitative
  • Balint group
  • Experience
  • General physician
  • Iran

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22122/ijbmc.v6i3.169