Exploring medical humanities from heterogeneous focus groups: A thematic analysis.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Medical Humanities
• Interdisciplinary Studies

Background:

• Medical humanities is a growing multidisciplinary field integrating humanities, social sciences, and arts into medical education and practice.
• A refined definition is needed to encompass diverse cultures and regions.
• Understanding perceptions of medical humanities among students, physicians, and nurses is crucial for its development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore student, physician, and nurse perceptions of medical humanities.
• To investigate the definition, learning, and implementation of medical humanities.
• To develop a framework for medical humanities that is inclusive and culturally sensitive.

Main Methods:

• Four heterogeneous focus groups were conducted with medical students, physicians, and nurses.
• Semi-structured guiding questions were used for data collection.
• Thematic analysis was performed on transcripts analyzed in Mandarin.

Main Results:

• Three themes and 16 subthemes emerged: Medical Humanities Properties (variety, evolvement, clinical relevancy, humaneness), Medical Humanities Contents (self-cultivation, communication, empathy, cultural competence, ethics, embodiment), and Medical Humanities Cultivation (personal growth, curriculum, multimedia, clinical experience, metacognition).

Conclusions:

• A three-layered framework for medical humanities is proposed, highlighting its dynamic nature and the importance of experiential learning.
• The framework incorporates "self-cultivation" from Eastern philosophy, emphasizing healthcare professional well-being.
• This research enriches medical humanities education by integrating Eastern perspectives and deepening the understanding of humanity in healthcare.