Looking for emerging themes in medical humanities—some invitations to our readers

Evans, H. M.; Greaves, David

doi:10.1136/mh.29.1.1

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…However, spontaneous references prior to asking the question revealed a far more integrated, if implicit, understanding; raising many important elements of Medical Humanities. 12 All interviewees highlighted the importance of helping medical students develop their humane qualities. Yet there was difficulty in agreeing on the term itself, which some felt to be ''silly'', ''vague'' and ''unnecessary.''…”

Section: Meaning Of the Study: Possible Explanations And Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I wish to add to the current debate concerning the development of the field by investigating attitudes and understanding of Medical Humanities in clinical practice, rather than describing the concept from a survey of the Medical Humanities literature. 12 Therefore, this research was approached using an interpretive framework, without formulating a working definition of Medical Humanities, with the intention of reducing (as much as possible) the influence of researcher expectations during the interviews, thus giving free rein to the consultants.…”

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confidence: 99%

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A silly expression: Consultants’ implicit and explicit understanding of Medical Humanities. A qualitative analysis

Knight

2006

Med Humanities

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The term Medical Humanities has still not been established in the wider medical, educational and academic communities. This qualitative study, conducted across three acute care trusts, is an exploration of whether clinicians were familiar with the term Medical Humanities, and if so, what the term meant to them and whether they considered the associated concepts relevant to medical practice and education. Reactions to the term Medical Humanities were varied: many clinicians had not heard of the term before, some were unsure what it meant, others displayed mistrust or contempt for it. Explicit definitions that were elicited were categorised (inductively) according to three main approaches to the understanding of Medical Humanities: Humanistic-holistic, Humanities-medicine seperate and Intellectual exercise. Findings indicate that the lack of clarity about the term Medical Humanities among experienced healthcare professionals, contrasts with their sophisticated implicit knowledge of key issues frequently associated with Medical Humanities. Thus, while some clinicians could not define Medical Humanities and some definitions separated humanities from medicine, all clinicians implicitly acknowledged the importance of Medical Humanities issues within their clinical and teaching practices during conversations prior to any mention of the term. It appears that clinicians as role models for medical students can inadvertently convey an ambivalent position towards the Medical Humanities that encompass the very values and attitudes they are trying to inculcate, sending out mixed messages to the novices.

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Section: Meaning Of the Study: Possible Explanations And Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

A silly expression: Consultants’ implicit and explicit understanding of Medical Humanities. A qualitative analysis

Knight

2006

Med Humanities

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“…1 We would like to discuss the respective benefits of history and literature in the teaching of medical humanities. Furthermore, we assume there is a close link between the theoretical debate on the question and the concrete framework and material conditions of a given programme.…”

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confidence: 99%

How to make the most of history and literature in the teaching of medical humanities: the experience of the University of Geneva

Louis-Courvoisier

Wenger

2005

Med Humanities

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In this paper the authors discuss the benefits of history and literature in the teaching of medical humanities. They suggest that human sciences produce a common effect, which they calldistancing. Distancing is the awareness that one natural way to describe a given situation does not exist and that any point of view—scientific or not—is context dependant and culturally shaped. Distancing is important to medical students, by allowing them to become aware of the specificity of their own professional point of view. The authors offer a reflection on the specificities of both historical and literary approaches and on the tools they provide for medical students. This paper assumes there is a close link between the theoretical debate on the benefits provided by human sciences and the concrete framework of a given programme. The authors describe team teaching, which has been the solution adopted in the School of Medicine at the University of Geneva to obtain the most from history and literature.

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‘The Medical’ and ‘Health’ in a Critical Medical Humanities

et al. 2014

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As befits an emerging field of enquiry, there is on-going discussion about the scope, role and future of the medical humanities. One relatively recent contribution to this debate proposes a differentiation of the field into two distinct terrains, 'medical humanities' and 'health humanities,' and calls for a supersession of the former by the latter. In this paper, we revisit the conceptual underpinnings for a distinction between 'the medical' and 'health' by looking at the history of an analogous debate between 'medical geography' and 'the geographies of health' that has, over the last few years, witnessed a re-blurring of the distinction. Highlighting the value of this debate within the social sciences for the future development of the medical humanities, we call for scholars to take seriously the challenges of critical and cultural theory, community-based arts and health, and the counter-cultural creative practices and strategies of activist movements in order to meet the new research challenges and fulfill the radical potential of a critical medical humanities. In the last 10 years, the number of disciplines, subjects, methodologies and individual researchers and practitioners working or associated with the medical humanities has grown J Med Humanit (2015) 36:71-81 Keywords

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Looking for emerging themes in medical humanities—some invitations to our readers

Cited by 8 publications

References 46 publications

A silly expression: Consultants’ implicit and explicit understanding of Medical Humanities. A qualitative analysis

A silly expression: Consultants’ implicit and explicit understanding of Medical Humanities. A qualitative analysis

How to make the most of history and literature in the teaching of medical humanities: the experience of the University of Geneva

‘The Medical’ and ‘Health’ in a Critical Medical Humanities

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