Medical Humanities Coursework Is Associated with Greater Measured Empathy in Medical Students

Am J Med. 2016 Dec;129(12):1334-1337. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2016.08.005. Epub 2016 Aug 24.

Abstract

Purpose: The primary focus of the study was to determine whether coursework in the medical humanities would ameliorate students' loss of and failure to develop empathy, a problem known to be common during medical education.

Methods: Students were offered an elective course in the Medical Humanities for academic credit. The Jefferson Scale of Empathy Student Version (JSE-S) was administered at the beginning and end of an academic year in which humanities courses were offered. Changes in JSE-S scores among students who studied Medical Humanities were compared with changes in student who did not take any humanities coursework.

Results: Medical humanities coursework correlated with superior empathy outcomes among the medical students. Of students not enrolled in humanities courses, 71% declined or failed to increase in JSE-S score over the academic year. Of those who took humanities coursework, 46% declined or failed to increase in JSE-S scores. The difference was statistically significant (P = .03). The medical humanities curriculum correlated with favorable empathy outcomes as measured by the JSE-S.

Conclusions: Elective medical humanities coursework correlated with improved empathy score outcomes in a group of US medical students. This may reflect a direct effect of the humanities coursework. Alternately, students' elective choice to take medical humanities coursework may be a marker for students with a propensity to favorable empathy outcomes.

Keywords: Curriculum innovations; Empathy; Medical humanities.

MeSH terms

  • Curriculum / trends
  • Education, Medical / trends*
  • Empathy*
  • Humanities / education*
  • Humans
  • Program Evaluation
  • Students, Medical / psychology*
  • United States