Gender differences in the effect of medical humanities program on medical students' empathy: a prospective longitudinal study

Educational efficacy of medical humanities in empathy of medical students and healthcare professionals: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Medical humanities education is an important part of medical education. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of medical humanities in improving empathy among medical students and healthcare professionals.

METHODS

PubMed, Embase, EBSCO-ERIC, Web of Science were searched systematically for studies in the English language. The last retrieval date is May 1, 2023. Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME) Global Rating Scale and Kirkpatrick-based results were used to evaluate the quality of literature. In this study, a meta-analysis of continuous data was conducted.

RESULTS

The pooled results by single-arm test meta-analysis showed a benefit with medical humanities programs in empathy (SMD 1.33; 95% CI 0.69-1.96). For single-arm trials of medical humanities program interventions of less than 4 months, 4 months to 12 months, and more than one year, the standardized mean differences(SMD) between post-test and pre-test were 1.74 (P < 0.05), 1.26 (P < 0.05), and 0.13 (P = 0.46), respectively. The results showed a significant difference in the effect of medical humanities programs on male and female empathy (SMD - 1.10; 95% CI -2.08 - -0.13). The SMDs for the study of course, the course combined reflective writing, and the course combined reflective writing and practice as intervention modalities for medical humanities programs were 1.15 (P < 0.05), 1.64 (P < 0.05), and 1.50 (P < 0.05), respectively.

CONCLUSION

Medical humanities programs as a whole can improve the empathy of medical students and health professionals. However, different intervention durations and different intervention methods produce different intervention effects.

German first-year medical students' expectations of their professional life - concerns and hopes: A project report

Aim

Expectations among medical students towards their future professional life are affected by intrinsic and extrinsic factors which may change during years of medical school. The aim of this study is to gain further insight into students' expectations of their professional life at the beginning of medical school. Findings regarding contextual influences can be used to improve curricula and student guidance.

Methods

The project report based on an online survey among three cohorts of first year medical students at the LMU. The questionnaire consisted of six open-ended questions which addressed the student's motivation, expectations, anticipations and concerns of their professional life. Questions were also asked about presumed personal development and influence on private life. An inductive coding was used in this qualitative content analysis.

Results

Written responses from 591 participants were coded, categorized and summarized into four main themes: personal life, work, science, personal issue. Despite coming from different cohorts, the occurrence of the main themes showed the same trend in all student groups. Students are worried most about the work-life-balance, and they expect it to be a difficult issue. But many of our first-year students are optimistic that they will be able to establish a good work-life-balance or that the working conditions will have changed to a manageable workload at the time they will enter their first jobs. The majority of our students expect to become more self-confident with enhanced empathy and team-working ability and more patient and stress-resistant in daily challenges.

Conclusion

The medical students emphasize the gender-neutral desire for work-life balance. So, they expect improved working conditions for the future - an ongoing challenge for the health care system.

Reliability of Greek version of the Toronto empathy questionnaire in medical students and associations with sociodemographic and lifestyle factors

BACKGROUND

Empathy is an important key driver of any therapeutic relationship. It is beneficial for both physicians and patients. Enhancing physician's empathy should be an important goal of medical education. As there was a literature gap regarding the topic of empathy among medical students in Greece, this study aimed to contribute to filling this gap.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted. A socio-demographic questionnaire and the 52-item Greek version of the Toronto composite empathy scale (TCES) for measuring the cognitive and emotional aspects of empathy in both personal and professional life was administered to all the medical students in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in Greece. Descriptive statistics were displayed for demographics. The associations of the variables were quantified by Chi-2 independence tests and Pearson's Correlation Coefficient. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire was determined by Cronbach's α, Hotelling's T-Squared Test, and Pearson correlation. Paired and Independent Sample T-Tests and One-way ANOVAs indicated statistically significant mean differences among the variables or subgroups of the variables.

RESULTS

The 52-item TCES, 26 for the personal (Per) setting and another 26 for professional (Pro) life, equally divided into cognitive (Cog) and emotional (Emo) empathy in each case. The overall reliability of the TCES questionnaire was found to be high (Cronbach's α = 0.895, significant positive correlations between the subscales). The mean total score of empathy showed that students had a moderately high empathy. Further, there was a statistically significant difference in means between the Per-Cog and Per-Emo settings (p < 0.001), the Pro-Cog and Pro-Emo (p < 0.001), the Per-Cog and Pro-Cog (p = 0.004), and the Per-Emo and Pro-Emo (p < 0.001). Females had significantly higher empathy scores (mean score 208.04) than males (192.5) on the Per-Cog, Per-Emo and Pro-Emo subscales. Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between empathy and factors such as love for animals, interest in medical ethics, belief in God, having an ill person in the family, class year or carrier intention.

CONCLUSIONS

The TCES is applicable to medical students. For the most part our findings were consistent with previous literature. However, we identified some nuances that might draw researchers' attention. The results of this study may contribute to plan interventions in the curriculum to enhance empathy in the medical students.