ABSTRACT
The emotions of doctors play an important role in their relationship with the patient as they can interfere with their attitudes, perceptions and in judgment and decision processes. The objective of the research was to analyze the emotional response of doctors to the stimuli of the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). This study used a quantitative method and evaluated 30 male and female doctors of various specialties, who dedicated all or some of their working hours to clinical care, had at least two years of experience after conclusion of medical residency and worked in conventional medicine (medical clinic). The instruments used for the analysis were: sociodemographic questionnaire to analyze the variables; the IAPS, composed of affective images capable of inducing emotional states and the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) to classify responses through two scales: pleasure and arousal. The results showed that in relation to emotional perception there was no difference between the sample results and the general population, but differences were found in the relation to sociodemographic variables: age, time since graduation, average consultation time and weekly hours devoted to work in the consulting room, concluding that older doctors, with more time since graduation and more time in consultation with the patient, felt more impacted by the emotional stimuli than younger doctors with less training time and less time with the patient in consultation. The results also showed that doctors who work more hours per week in the consulting room perceived the stimuli in a less pleasant way than doctors who spend less time in the consulting room and share their time with other activities. Further research and studies are needed to deepen the theme of emotions and their influence on medical practice, considering larger samples in different contexts and new variables.
Doctors; Emotions; Medical Psychology