Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2017 May 10;17(1):85.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-017-0925-0.

Different perceptions of narrative medicine between Western and Chinese medicine students

Chien-Da Huang  1   2   3 , Kuo-Chen Liao  4   5   6 , Fu-Tsai Chung  7 , Hsu-Min Tseng  4   8 , Ji-Tseng Fang  9 , Shu-Chung Lii  10 , Han-Pin Kuo  7 , San-Jou Yeh  5   11 , Shih-Tseng Lee  12
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Different perceptions of narrative medicine between Western and Chinese medicine students

Chien-Da Huang et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: Western medicine is an evidence-based science, whereas Chinese medicine is more of a healing art. To date, there has been no research that has examined whether students of Western and Chinese medicine differentially engage in, or benefit from, educational activities for narrative medicine. This study fills a gap in current literature with the aim of evaluating and comparing Western and Chinese Medicine students' perceptions of narrative medicine as an approach to learning empathy and professionalism.

Methods: An initial 10-item questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale was developed to assess fifth-year Western medical (MS) and traditional Chinese medical (TCMS) students' perceptions of a 4-activity narrative medicine program during a 13-week internal medicine clerkship. Exploratory factor analysis was undertaken.

Results: The response rate was 88.6% (412/465), including 270 (65.5%) MSs and 142 (34.5%) TCMSs, with a large reliability (Cronbach alpha = 0.934). Three factors were extracted from 9 items: personal attitude, self-development/reflection, and emotional benefit, more favorable in terms of enhancement of self-development/reflection. The perceptions of narrative medicine by scores between the two groups were significantly higher in TCMSs than MSs in all 9-item questionnaire and 3 extracted factors.

Conclusions: Given the different learning cultures of medical education in which these student groups engage, this suggests that undertaking a course in Chinese medicine might enhance one's acceptance to, and benefit from, a medical humanities course. Alternatively, Chinese medicine programmes might attract more humanities-focused students.

Keywords: Chinese medicine; Learning culture; Medical students; Narrative medicine; Perception.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Johna S, Dehal A. The power of reflective writing: narrative medicine and medical education. Perm J. 2013;17(4):84–85. doi: 10.7812/TPP/13-043. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Novack DH, Epstein RM, Paulsen RH. Toward creating physician-healers: fostering medical students’ self-awareness, personal growth, and well-being. Acad Med. 1999;74(5):516–520. doi: 10.1097/00001888-199905000-00017. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kleinman A. The illness narratives: suffering, healing, and the human condition. New York: Basic Books; 1988. - PubMed
    1. Bolaki S. Capturing the worlds of multiple sclerosis: Hannah Laycock's photography. Med Humanit. 2016;0:1–8. - PubMed
    1. Woods A. The limits of narrative: provocations for the medical humanities. Med Humanit. 2011;37(2):73–78. doi: 10.1136/medhum-2011-010045. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources