PhD defence T. (Telma) Ganc Kremer

Dissertation in short:

Emotionally charged situations are inherent to medical practice and therefore medical students and residents are expected to encounter them frequently throughout their training. These situations are likely to trigger emotional reactions and several studies have provided evidence that these emotional reactions affect trainees` wellbeing, However, only recently attention has been given to whether they also affect their learning and research on the theme is still scarce. The main purpose of this thesis was to contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between emotions triggered by commonly encountered situations on medical trainees` learning. First, we explored which are the most common situations encountered across different stages of training, and how trainees experience and react to them. Second, we experimentally investigated whether and how these emotional reactions affect their sub sequential learning of medical material. We found that emotional reactions actually have a hindering effect on sub sequential learning, even when triggered by a vicarious experience - watching a videoclip used as a priming task. Third, we explored cognitive reappraisal as a potential intervention to counter the hindering effect found. We also discuss the methodological/ challenges involved in experimental research in this relatively new field. The thesis contributes to call attention to a field that has been growing in the last decades but still lacks specific knowledge, methodologies and experimental evidence to support new developments that could support educators to assure trainees take advantage of all their learning opportunities.