Assignment

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Introducing the Humanities into physiotherapy education

The assignment is a component of the module that is completed in the third year. The grade for this assignment is carried over to the final year.

I’m increasingly drawn to the idea that one of the things that we’re missing in physiotherapy education is a sense of humanity – our own as well as that of the patient. We focus (almost) all of the curriculum on the basic sciences and then the clinical sciences. We spend all of our time teaching anatomy and biomechanics (i.e. bodies as machines), and what we can do to bodies in order to “fix” them. And, while we pay lip service to the holistic management of the patient, there is little in the curriculum that says to the student that this really something that we consider to be important.

“Science is the foundation of an excellent medical education, but a well-rounded humanist is best suited to make the most of that education.”

Empathy is critical to the development of professionalism in medical students, and the humanities – particularly literature – have been touted as an effective tool for increasing student empathy. In addition, there is some evidence that some background training in the Humanities and liberal arts results in health professionals with improved professionalism and self-care. In other words, health professionals who are exposed to the arts as part of their undergraduate education may demonstrate an increased ability to manage patients holistically.

The relationship between emotion and learning has also recently been explored, with findings from multiple disciplines supporting the idea that emotion is intimately and inseparably intertwined with cognition in guiding learning, behaviour and decision making. The introduction of the Humanities in health professions education therefore has another potential impact; by using the arts to develop an awareness of emotional response, educators and students may find that exposure to the humanities might lead to improvements in learning.

The aim of this assignment is for students to explore the Humanities (art, literature, theatre, music, dance, etc.) as a process of developing a sense of awareness of empathy in the context of clinical education. You may interpret the assignment in any way you want, for example, by writing a poem, drawing a picture, taking a photo, or re-interpreting a song…however, the important part is the reflection that you attach to the piece.

Podcast conversation on the Humanities in physiotherapy education

In order to get a better idea of how and why the Humanities may be useful in your studies, you should listen to this podcast with author, Carmen Caiero, who talks about the development of a narrative reasoning course as part of a physiotherapy programme in Portugal. Carmen discusses the theoretical background and practical implementation of a fascinating course that makes use of arts, literature and reflective writing to help health students develop skills to observe, absorb, interpret and respond empathetically to patients` stories.

Link to the original podcast: http://inbeta.uwc.ac.za/2019/03/05/10-narrative-reasoning/.

Tasks

In order to complete this assignment, you will need to do the following:

  1. Identify or create a piece that you can use to reflect on. This could be a photo, short story, poem, song, statue, comic…literally anything that could be interpreted as “art”.
  2. Link the piece you have identified or created to a concept in clinical or ethical practice. In order to do this you should review the examples provided below, and follow up on the readings provided.
  3. You will need to link the piece of art and the reflection with an example of your own clinical practice.
  4. Write a short (1 page) reflection on the piece and your interpretation of it in the context of the clinical or ethical concept you identified in (2) above. It is unlikely that you will be able to do this effectively unless you have explored the readings below.
  5. The final submission should consist of 1) The piece of art, 2) the reflection, and 3) the references used to inform your reflection.
  6. The due date for the draft submission is 19th August. You will then provide feedback to three other students on their drafts by the 26th August, which will enable them to improve their work before the final submission, on the 30th August.

Marking rubric

Your assignment will be marked according to the following rubric:

  • Content: Does the content of your writing reflect the content of the module i.e. do you use the concepts as described in the module e.g. empathy, professionalism, ethics (15 marks)
  • Clinical practice: Have you incorporated appropriate examples of your own clinical practice into the assignment? (10 marks)
  • Art: Is the piece you identified appropriate? Does it link to the reflection? Is it well-presented e.g. a high quality image, or good quality video? (10 marks)
  • Evidence: Have you made use of appropriate literature to support the claims you make in your reflection? (10 marks)
  • Language: Is the reflection well-written, with few grammatical and spelling errors, easy to follow? (5 marks)
  • Digital literacy: Have you used the features of the website (e.g. tags, images, video, hyperlinks) to tell a compelling story? (10 marks)

Readings that you might find helpful for this assignment

  1. Artino, A. R., & Naismith, L. M. (2015). “But how do you really feel?” Measuring emotions in medical education research. Medical Education, 49, 138–146.
  2. Foster, W., & Freeman, E. (2008). Poetry in general practice education: Perceptions of learners. Family Practice, 25(4), 294–303.
  3. Kandel, E. Why art evokes empathy.
  4. Panda, S.C. (2006). Medicine: Science or Art? (link to full text article)
  5. Peloquin, S. (1996). Art: An Occupation With Promise for Developing Empathy. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 50:655-661.
  6. Schwartz, A. W., Abramson, J. S., Wojnowich, I., Accordino, R., Ronan, E. J., & Rifkin, M. R. (2009). Evaluating the Impact of the Humanities in Medical Education. Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine, 76, 372–380.
  7. Shapiro, J., Morrison, E., & Boker, J. (2004). Teaching empathy to first year medical students: evaluation of an elective literature and medicine course. Education for Health, 17(1), 73–84.
  8. Can studying art help medical students become better doctors?