Impact of humanities and social sciences curriculum in an undergraduate medical education programme

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the impact of humanities and social sciences curriculum in an undergraduate medical education programme. Methods: The qualitative study was conducted from May 2016 to May 2017 at a private medical college in Karachi where humanities and social sciences subject is an art of the undergraduate curriculum as a 6-week module at the start of Year 1 of the five-year programme. Focus group discussions were held with students from all the five years as well as with faculty related to humanities and social sciences, basic sciences and their clinical counterparts. The views of alumni of the undergraduate programme who are now members of the faculty at the institution were also explored and semi-structured interviews were conducted with institutional academic leaders. MAXQDA software was used to identify the themes for analysis. Results: Of the 50 participants, 27(54%) were students, 21(42%) were faculty members and 2(4%) were academic leaders. From the 11 sub-themes, 5 themes were identified: Expectations, Strengths, Challenges, Way forward, and Institutional role and responsibility. Faculty members perceived humanities and social sciences as encouraging creative and critical thinking, boosting students' confidence and positively impacting their behaviour. Student perception seemed to change as they progressed through the years and they appreciated its impact at different stages. Conclusion: The existing humanities and social sciences curriculum can be further strengthened by integrating contents throughout the five-year programme and continuing it as a longitudinal theme rather than limiting it to a one-time exposure at the start of the programme.

The Influence of Humanities on Art and Design Learning Performance: An Empirical Study

“…This humanities category is included in liberal arts education but distinguished from liberal arts that exclude natural science such as geometry and astronomy. Researchers in multiple arts and design disciplinaries suggest including these humanistic capabilities in the art and design study program (e.g., ICSID 2003;Yang et al 2005;Cartier 2011;Chiang 2018), as which are critical to art and design practitioners and researchers (McCoy 1990;Buchanan 2001;Swanson 2004;Lasky 2005;Baseman 2015;Davis 2015;Giampietro 2015;Walker 2017) and are promoted by traditional humanities (Dumitru 2019;Ghias et al 2020). Although perspectives and theoretical studies have argued that humanistic capabilities increase art and design learning performance, little evidence supports this argument to our best knowledge.…”

“…2005; Cartier 2011; Chiang 2018), as which are critical to art and design practitioners and researchers (McCoy 1990; Buchanan 2001; Swanson 2004; Lasky 2005; Baseman 2015; Davis 2015; Giampietro 2015; Walker 2017) and are promoted by traditional humanities (Dumitru 2019; Ghias et al . 2020). Although perspectives and theoretical studies have argued that humanistic capabilities increase art and design learning performance, little evidence supports this argument to our best knowledge.…”

Bridging the Gap Between Humanities and Health Sciences – Practices and Recommendations

“…In the Western world, medical schools have incorporated health humanities into their curricula on the premise that the courses promote understanding of the world and foster compassion and empathy. It is well known that technical judgment requires knowledge of science, while ethical decision-making requires knowledge of humanities (Ghias, Khan, Ali, Azfar, & Ahmed, 2020). Health humanities provides an interdisciplinary approach to comprehend the meaning of health, illness, and disease for patients with broader contextual understanding using humanities disciplines (history, literature/narrative, ethics, philosophy), diverse arts (e.g.…”

“…In developing countries, however, evidence of this effort is scarce (Ghias et al, 2020). Such an introduction would help health students better understand and go deeper into the nature of assumptions, critically reflect on their profession with the intention of becoming more self-aware and humane practitioners and to become clinically excellent and creative to solve growing complexities (Carr et al, 2022;Carr et al, 2021).…”

Influence of Sparshanam, a medical humanities module and personal and professional development – perspectives of the first batch of medical graduates

“…In uence of Sparshanam, a medical humanities module and personal and professional development -perspectives of the rst batch of medical graduates Introduction Medical humanities use subjects traditionally known as the humanities for speci c purposes in medical education. The arts and humanities have been argued to be important in the development of humane judgment (Ghias et al 2020). Medical humanities programs have been offered for nearly ve decades at medical schools in developed nations.…”