A culturally competent approach to teaching humanities in an international medical school: potential frameworks and lessons learned [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]
Background: This paper describes the development of a culturally competent medical humanities course for second and third-year medical students at the ethnically diverse College of Medicine at Qatar University. First taught in 2016, the elective seminar “Medicine and the Arts” was restructured in 20...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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F1000 Research Ltd
2022-05-01
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| Series: | MedEdPublish |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://mededpublish.org/articles/12-6/v2 |
| _version_ | 1818214431830573056 |
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| author | Suhad Daher-Nashif Tanya Kane |
| author_facet | Suhad Daher-Nashif Tanya Kane |
| author_sort | Suhad Daher-Nashif |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: This paper describes the development of a culturally competent medical humanities course for second and third-year medical students at the ethnically diverse College of Medicine at Qatar University. First taught in 2016, the elective seminar “Medicine and the Arts” was restructured in 2017 to cultivate an appreciation of the symbiotic relationship between medicine, art, and humanities, and to foster cultural competence among the students. Methods: Results and tips are based on our experiences and past reports. Results: In designing a course for students immersed in an Arab-Muslim context, we encountered two challenges: the discipline’s privileging of a predominantly Western canon of arts and humanities, and the largely Euro-American-centric and unilateral framing of concepts e.g., the doctor-patient relationship, patient-centered approach, patient experiences, and meanings of health and illness. To circumvent these challenges, we followed the Purnell Model for Cultural Competence, adopted the interdisciplinary approach, and employed an intersectionality framework to build and deliver a culturally competent course exploring the nexus of arts, humanities, and medicine. In addition to these tips on which frameworks to adopt and how to structure the course, we recommend a visual literacy workshop to help them develop the ability to recognize and understand ideas conveyed through art. Furthermore, we recommend deep conversations about artistic portrayals of medicine from different cultural contexts as tools for developing cultural awareness. Lastly, we recommend that these discussions adopt a student-centered approach, where students inform about their experiences and their own health and illness determinants, in order to develop their knowledge and practice of holism and patient centered approach, and other issues related to humanities and social sciences. Conclusions: Adopting and implementing a culturally competent approach to medical education, alongside interdisciplinary and intersectionality concepts, are potential conceptual frameworks to structure a course that uses art to inform about medical humanities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T06:20:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bb5be828c9364cb1989b37f956651f64 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2312-7996 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T06:20:05Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | F1000 Research Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | MedEdPublish |
| spelling | doaj.art-bb5be828c9364cb1989b37f956651f642022-12-22T00:34:55ZengF1000 Research LtdMedEdPublish2312-79962022-05-011220517A culturally competent approach to teaching humanities in an international medical school: potential frameworks and lessons learned [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]Suhad Daher-Nashif0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8767-4619Tanya Kane1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2473-6138The College of Medicine, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, 2713, QatarThe College of Medicine, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, 2713, QatarBackground: This paper describes the development of a culturally competent medical humanities course for second and third-year medical students at the ethnically diverse College of Medicine at Qatar University. First taught in 2016, the elective seminar “Medicine and the Arts” was restructured in 2017 to cultivate an appreciation of the symbiotic relationship between medicine, art, and humanities, and to foster cultural competence among the students. Methods: Results and tips are based on our experiences and past reports. Results: In designing a course for students immersed in an Arab-Muslim context, we encountered two challenges: the discipline’s privileging of a predominantly Western canon of arts and humanities, and the largely Euro-American-centric and unilateral framing of concepts e.g., the doctor-patient relationship, patient-centered approach, patient experiences, and meanings of health and illness. To circumvent these challenges, we followed the Purnell Model for Cultural Competence, adopted the interdisciplinary approach, and employed an intersectionality framework to build and deliver a culturally competent course exploring the nexus of arts, humanities, and medicine. In addition to these tips on which frameworks to adopt and how to structure the course, we recommend a visual literacy workshop to help them develop the ability to recognize and understand ideas conveyed through art. Furthermore, we recommend deep conversations about artistic portrayals of medicine from different cultural contexts as tools for developing cultural awareness. Lastly, we recommend that these discussions adopt a student-centered approach, where students inform about their experiences and their own health and illness determinants, in order to develop their knowledge and practice of holism and patient centered approach, and other issues related to humanities and social sciences. Conclusions: Adopting and implementing a culturally competent approach to medical education, alongside interdisciplinary and intersectionality concepts, are potential conceptual frameworks to structure a course that uses art to inform about medical humanities.https://mededpublish.org/articles/12-6/v2Culture competence art medical humanities medical education Arab regioneng |
| spellingShingle | Suhad Daher-Nashif Tanya Kane A culturally competent approach to teaching humanities in an international medical school: potential frameworks and lessons learned [version 2; peer review: 2 approved] MedEdPublish Culture competence art medical humanities medical education Arab region eng |
| title | A culturally competent approach to teaching humanities in an international medical school: potential frameworks and lessons learned [version 2; peer review: 2 approved] |
| title_full | A culturally competent approach to teaching humanities in an international medical school: potential frameworks and lessons learned [version 2; peer review: 2 approved] |
| title_fullStr | A culturally competent approach to teaching humanities in an international medical school: potential frameworks and lessons learned [version 2; peer review: 2 approved] |
| title_full_unstemmed | A culturally competent approach to teaching humanities in an international medical school: potential frameworks and lessons learned [version 2; peer review: 2 approved] |
| title_short | A culturally competent approach to teaching humanities in an international medical school: potential frameworks and lessons learned [version 2; peer review: 2 approved] |
| title_sort | culturally competent approach to teaching humanities in an international medical school potential frameworks and lessons learned version 2 peer review 2 approved |
| topic | Culture competence art medical humanities medical education Arab region eng |
| url | https://mededpublish.org/articles/12-6/v2 |
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