Department of Health Sciences Faculty Articles

The Influence of Narrative in Fostering Affective Development of Medical Professionalism in an Online Class

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2011

Abstract

Medical educators, clinical trainers, and professional organizations that have responded to the need to humanize medicine have not explored prospects for affective development in distance education. In this dissertation, the author will explore narrative as an affective learning technique that may be used to teach medical professionalism in the online class. Medical fiction, lay exposition, autobiography and other written forms of patient narratives, as well as multimedia presentations, movies, music, song, and visual arts will be explored and analyzed for use in teaching medical professionalism to online health science students. A collection of narratives and learning activities for teaching medical professionalism in an online class will be presented. Finally, a comparison study will evaluate the use of narrative medicine to foster professional development in an online class. The use of narrative to introduce professionalism and help online students internalize the humanistic values of empathy and compassion will be grounded in affective theories of moral development. Quantitative evaluation of medical professionalism will be performed using the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE), a psychometrically sound instrument designed to measure empathy in the context of patient care. The goal is to explore affective development and the educational value that narrative brings to teaching medical professionalism in the online class. The study will help clarify the role of narrative in transformative learning. The implication is that online students can benefit from exposure to narrative. The relationship between narrative and medical professionalism may have applications for educational theory, medical and allied health practice, public policy, and future research.

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

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