Research on balint groups

Abstract

In Chapter 5, Dorte Kjeldmand, Henry Jablonski, and John Salinsky pose the question, ‘Do doctors and their patients benefit from conversations in small groups about clinical cases?’ They explore this question from the perspective of their long history of working with Balint groups, aware of the requirement of both being objective and simultaneously providing insights based on their experience. They discuss Michael Balint's original concept of Balint groups as a form of research as well as his ‘A Study of Doctors’. A review of recent Balint research is presented in addition to Kjeldmand's own research entitled, ‘The Doctor, the Task, and the Group’. The authors discuss challenges in doing research on Balint groups. They identify specific difficulties, pointing out key issues that all researchers need to consider in exploring the impact of collaborative engagement of uncertainty, whatever specific small group approach is used, on clinician practice and, ultimately, patient outcomes.