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Comparing Balint Groups as Face-to-face and as Online Events

Received: 15 March 2021    Accepted: 19 April 2021    Published: 26 April 2021
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Abstract

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, many medical training and further education events have been converted to online seminars. This raises the question of whether the same quality outcome can be achieved with this type of event, as with face-to-face events. This is particularly true for Balint groups, where a high degree of interaction takes place and non-verbal communication between the group participants also plays a big part. Balint groups as face-to-face events have an increased risk of infection for the participants and are no longer approved by many employers to avoid staff shortages due to doctors falling ill. In the anonymous survey of participants from different groups, the evaluation by the on-line participants actually showed advantages, compared to a face-to-face event. The online format even leads to doctors who would normally not be able to attend a Balint group now taking advantage of this training. Balint groups can therefore be a support in doctors' work, especially in situations of great workload - as in the current pandemic. Disadvantages of this format are clearly outweighed by the advantages. The results suggest that, online Balint groups and face-to-face events should continue to be offered simultaneously and the outcomes should be further investigated.

Published in Science Journal of Education (Volume 9, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.sjedu.20210902.18
Page(s) 69-72
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Balint Groups, Online Seminars, Comparison, Corona, Covid 19

References
[1] Bundesärztekammer (2018): Muster Kursbuch Psychosomatische Grundversorgung.
[2] Donald E Nease, Jr, Albert Lichtenstein, Luis Pinho-Costa, Kyle Hoedebecke (2018) Balint 2.0: A virtual Balint group for doctors around the world.
[3] Mansoureh Kiani Dehkordi, Shahin Sakhi, Shakiba Gholamzad, Mohammad Azizpour and Najmeh Shahini (2020) Online Balint groups in healthcare workers caring for the COVID-19 patients in Iran.
[4] Balint group online – Master class by… | INTERNATIONAL BALINT ROUND TABLE. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2021, from https://balintrt.com/balint-group-online-master-class-by/
[5] Balint groups - The American Balint Society. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2021, from https://www.americanbalintsociety.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=445043&module_id=406070
[6] Global Family Doctor - WONCA Online. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2021, from https://www.globalfamilydoctor.com/news/balint20.aspx
[7] Koppe, H., van de Mortel, T. F., & Ahern, C. M. (2016). How effective and acceptable is Web 2.0 Balint group participation for general practitioners and general practitioner registrars in regional Australia? A pilot study. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 24 (1), 16–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajr.12212
[8] Online Groups | Balint Society of Australia & New Zealand. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2021, from https://www.balintaustralianewzealand.org/about/join-a-balint-group/online-groups/
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Mario Scheib, Sophie-Charlotte Adler. (2021). Comparing Balint Groups as Face-to-face and as Online Events. Science Journal of Education, 9(2), 69-72. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjedu.20210902.18

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    ACS Style

    Mario Scheib; Sophie-Charlotte Adler. Comparing Balint Groups as Face-to-face and as Online Events. Sci. J. Educ. 2021, 9(2), 69-72. doi: 10.11648/j.sjedu.20210902.18

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    AMA Style

    Mario Scheib, Sophie-Charlotte Adler. Comparing Balint Groups as Face-to-face and as Online Events. Sci J Educ. 2021;9(2):69-72. doi: 10.11648/j.sjedu.20210902.18

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  • @article{10.11648/j.sjedu.20210902.18,
      author = {Mario Scheib and Sophie-Charlotte Adler},
      title = {Comparing Balint Groups as Face-to-face and as Online Events},
      journal = {Science Journal of Education},
      volume = {9},
      number = {2},
      pages = {69-72},
      doi = {10.11648/j.sjedu.20210902.18},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjedu.20210902.18},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sjedu.20210902.18},
      abstract = {Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, many medical training and further education events have been converted to online seminars. This raises the question of whether the same quality outcome can be achieved with this type of event, as with face-to-face events. This is particularly true for Balint groups, where a high degree of interaction takes place and non-verbal communication between the group participants also plays a big part. Balint groups as face-to-face events have an increased risk of infection for the participants and are no longer approved by many employers to avoid staff shortages due to doctors falling ill. In the anonymous survey of participants from different groups, the evaluation by the on-line participants actually showed advantages, compared to a face-to-face event. The online format even leads to doctors who would normally not be able to attend a Balint group now taking advantage of this training. Balint groups can therefore be a support in doctors' work, especially in situations of great workload - as in the current pandemic. Disadvantages of this format are clearly outweighed by the advantages. The results suggest that, online Balint groups and face-to-face events should continue to be offered simultaneously and the outcomes should be further investigated.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Comparing Balint Groups as Face-to-face and as Online Events
    AU  - Mario Scheib
    AU  - Sophie-Charlotte Adler
    Y1  - 2021/04/26
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.sjedu.20210902.18
    T2  - Science Journal of Education
    JF  - Science Journal of Education
    JO  - Science Journal of Education
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    AB  - Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, many medical training and further education events have been converted to online seminars. This raises the question of whether the same quality outcome can be achieved with this type of event, as with face-to-face events. This is particularly true for Balint groups, where a high degree of interaction takes place and non-verbal communication between the group participants also plays a big part. Balint groups as face-to-face events have an increased risk of infection for the participants and are no longer approved by many employers to avoid staff shortages due to doctors falling ill. In the anonymous survey of participants from different groups, the evaluation by the on-line participants actually showed advantages, compared to a face-to-face event. The online format even leads to doctors who would normally not be able to attend a Balint group now taking advantage of this training. Balint groups can therefore be a support in doctors' work, especially in situations of great workload - as in the current pandemic. Disadvantages of this format are clearly outweighed by the advantages. The results suggest that, online Balint groups and face-to-face events should continue to be offered simultaneously and the outcomes should be further investigated.
    VL  - 9
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Author Information
  • Instituto Dr. Scheib, Clinica Luz, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

  • Instituto Dr. Scheib, Clinica Luz, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

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