The effect of medical students’ gender, ethnicity and attitude towards poetry-reading on the evaluation of a required, clinically-integrated poetry- based educational intervention

Abstract

BackgroundArt -based interventions are widely used in medical education. However, data on the potential effects of art-based interventions on medical students have been limited to small qualitative studies on students’ evaluation of elective programs, and thus their findings may be difficult to generalize. The goal of this study is to examine, in an unselected students’ population, the effect of students’ gender, ethnicity and attitude towards poetry on their evaluation of a clinically-integrated poetry-based educational intervention.MethodsA required Clinically- Oriented Poetry-reading Experience (COPE) is integrated into the 4th year internal medicine clerkship. We constructed a questionnaire regarding the program’s effects on students. Students completed the questionnaire at the end of the clerkship. We performed a Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and examined the relationship between students’ evaluation of the program and students’ ethnicity, gender, attitude towards poetry-reading, and the timing of the program (early/late) during the fourth year.Results144 students participated in the program, of which 112 completed the questionnaires. We identified two effect factors: “student-patient” and “self and colleagues”. The average score for “student-patient” factor was significantly higher as compared to the “self and colleagues” factor.Evaluation the “student- patient” effect factor was higher among Arab and Druze as compared to Jewish students. Students’ attitude towards poetry-reading did not correlate with the “student-patient” effect, but correlated with the “self and colleagues” effect. The evaluation of the “self and colleagues” effect was higher among students who participated in the program during their second as compared with the first clerkship. Students’ gender was not associated with any of the effects identified. Students favored obligatory participation in COPE as compared with elective course format.ConclusionsAccording to students’ evaluation, a format of integrated, obligatory poetry-based intervention may be suitable for enhancing “student-patient” aims in heterogeneous student populations. The higher evaluation of the “patient-student” effect among Arab and Druze as compared to Jewish students may be related to cultural differences in the perception of this component of medical professionalism. Further research can provide insight into the effect of cultural and ethnic differences on actual empathy of medical students in patient encounters.

Gender Differences in the Effect of Medical Humanities Program on Medical Students' Empathy: A Prospective Longitudinal Study

“…However, our study suggests that an extensive program that included exposure to ethical issues, communication skills, and humanities studies, had a sustained effect on empathy during the following year in women, but not in men. These findings add to reports on enhancement of empathy in medical students [22][23][24][25].…”

Poetry in teaching pharmacology: Exploring the possibilities

“…[14] Poems lend themselves well to an ideal integrated platform that can be used to establish a connect between empathy, clinical, psychological, and factual aspects or to a focused discussion on a single aspect of a subject. [61315]…”

“…[4] These tasks not only enable students to understand some of the varied real life applications of classroom teaching but also act as a reinforcer to establish a new memory circuit. [567]…”

“…Engaging students in activities that involve students in group activities and inspire both creativity and recall, at the same time, as in poetry writing, can help generate more interest in the subject. [56] If we give interesting cues and initiate active search soon after the lecture or teaching–learning activity, the context in the cues thus designed can shift focus from passive to active learning and lead to meaningful learning of relevant facts that may otherwise be soon forgotten. Hence, this study was done with the aim to encourage active learning among students through introduction of creative writing assignments during the formative assessment.…”

Gender Differences in the Effect of Medical Humanities Program on Medical Students' Empathy: A Prospective Longitudinal Study 

“…Educational interventions have been suggested to prevent empathy decline during medical studies (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23). Previous studies have reported on higher empathy in women as compared to men, following such educational interventions [22,23].…”