Centre for Research in Professional Learning Research Seminar

Emotion regulation (ER) refers to the control we are able to exert over our emotions and is often constructed as a skill that an individual has (or has not) to varying degrees.

In medical practice, unregulated emotions impact on doctor and patient well-being. In teachers, such negative emotions (e.g. anger, frustration), increase students' negative emotional experiences.

For both groups, unregulated, or inappropriately regulated, emotions can lead to lack of motivation and is associated with mood and anxiety disorders, depression and burnout. In this seminar Lynn will report on the findings from a study examining junior doctors’ emotional regulation as part of a larger GMC-funded programme of research investigating medical graduates’ preparedness for practice.

Although participants narrated a range of strategies of how they personally managed work-related negative feelings, with different patterns of regulation being identified by the researchers, participants also narrated times when the wider team rallied around to help them manage their emotions during and following difficult events. Similarities and differences between how emotions are regulated within educational and clinical settings will be explored with the audience.

Lynn is Professor and Director of the national Chang Gung Medical Education Research Centre in Linkou, Taiwan and Visiting Professor of Chang Gung University, Taiwan. Her current interest focuses on identity construction, transitions into practice, student-doctor-patient interaction, professionalism in medical education and the role of theory in research.

She is Deputy Editor for the highest ranked education journal (scientific disciplines) Medical Education and has published over 70 articles across a range of journals and books including Medical Education, Academic Medicine, Social Science & Medicine and Qualitative Health Research.