Article: Using the health humanities to impart disability competencies to undergraduate medical students

Authors: Singh, Khan, Dhaliwal, Khan

DOI: 10.1016/j.dhjo.2021.101218

 Description: 

In episode 10 we discuss the pedagogical method and results of a pilot project that used the health humanities to teach eight disability competencies to Indian undergraduate medical students. The authors’ pioneering educational approach included disabled patient panels, forum theater (a form of Theater of the Oppressed), visual art, and a field trip to an integrated school educating disabled and non-disabled children. 

Transcript 

Keywords:

Health Humanities

Medical Humanities

India

MBBS

Human rights model

Disability Competency

Healthcare training

Medical training

Care work

Chronic Illness

Disability terminology

Disability studies

Social model

Medical model

Health Sciences

Medical Education

In Research and Resource Rounds Episode 9, we review Improvements in Students’ Attitudes Toward People With Disabilities With or Without Semi-Structured Community-Based Interactions. 

The article describes and presents the results of a study in which the three authors tested the effect of a baseline curriculum and of an enhanced curriculum on doctor of physical therapy students’ attitudes towards people with disabilities. Two student cohorts from the University of Texas El Paso’s doctor of physical therapy program participated in the study which measured attitudes using two common measures: first, Attitudes Toward Disabled People or ATDP-A and the Multidimensional Attitudes Scale Toward Persons with Disabilities or MAS.

The baseline curriculum group and enhanced curriculum group both showed improvement in their attitudes, although the baseline group only showed a statistically significant improvement in attitudes towards people with disabilities on the MAS scale. Moreover, the two groups (baseline and enhanced curriculum) did not differ significantly on their pretest or posttest scores on either attitude measure.

Article: Improvements in Students’ Attitudes Toward People With Disabilities With or Without Semi-Structured Community-Based Interactions.

Authors: Jimenez, Pechak, Garrand

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/JTE.0000000000000102

Transcript

Keywords:

Physical Therapy

Doctor of Physical Therapy

Physical Therapy Education

Physical Therapy Curricula

Interdisciplinary health education

Healthcare training

Medical training

Care work

Chronic Illness

Disability terminology

Disability studies

Social model

Medical model

Health Sciences

Medical Education

EPISODE 8

This article shares the findings of qualitative interviews investigating university health science educators’ perspectives on and approaches to disability education at a New Zealand university. All participants reported that disability training was not a standard component of their field’s curriculum. Instead, these educators incorporated piecemeal disability content where possible. The authors identify six “perceived advantages” of fore-fronting lived experience in materials and techniques used to teach health science students about disability embodiments and care. Interviewees argued that disability training material should appear regularly in the standard 4-year curriculum, perhaps as part of cultural competency lessons that already recur throughout the 4-year program.

Article:

Peiris-John, Roshini, Neera R. Jain, Amy Hogan, and Shanthi Ameratunga. 2021. “Educating Health Science Students about Disability: Teachers’ Perspectives on Curricular Gaps.” Disability and Health Journal 14 (1): 100985. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2020.100985.

Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QTczQW5S-oZyecgpNDJX33Bzwk0Rwga6aoJ-dyS9pvw/edit?usp=sharing

Release: March 2023

Keywords:

Interdisciplinary health education

Health curricula

Teacher

New Zealand

Healthcare training

Medical training

Care work

Chronic Illness

Disability terminology

Disability studies

Social model

Medical model

Health Sciences

Medical Education

This is the first episode of our second collection, Integrating disability into health sciences curricula: implementation, recommendations, and the need for disability content in health sciences education, we cover the 2021 article, “What Should We Teach about Disability? National Consensus on Disability Competencies for Health Care Education” published in the Disability and Health Journal by Havercamp, Barnhart, Robinson, and Whalen Smith.

The authors describe the necessity of widespread and consistent disability training across interprofessional health education, an umbrella that encompasses medicine, nursing, social work, and psychology—among other disciplines. Taking up their own imperative, the authors propose a set of competencies, sub-competencies, and principles that could act as a national standard. The article details the collaborative, multi-phase process of developing and repeatedly revising the competencies with help from expert reviewers with both lived and professional expertise in disability and its relevance in healthcare fields.

Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TcbDgXWtWMR_TIp62a-jiZPq44FOFfaIlxrWicP_Ci4/edit?usp=sharing

Key Words: 

Disability competencies

Disability standards

Disability education

Interdisciplinary health education

Healthcare training

Medical training

Care work

Chronic Illness

Disability terminology

Disability studies

Social model

Medical model

Health Sciences

Medical Education

Episode 6 of Research and Resource rounds discusses the paper, “COVID-19 and the Need for Disability Conscious Medical Education, Training, and Practice.” published in the Journal of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine, as part of our collection disability in the health sciences: key arguments and issues at stake, language, and history.

Article: Doebrich, Adrienne, Marion Quirici, and Christopher Lunsford. 2020. “COVID-19 and the Need for Disability Conscious Medical Education, Training, and Practice.” Journal of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine 13 (3): 393–404. https://doi.org/10.3233/PRM-200763.

Authors: Doebrich, Adrienne, Marion Quirici, and Christopher Lunsford.

Transcript

Keywords:

Disability Consciousness

Covid-19

Medical training

Care work

Chronic Illness

Disability terminology

Disability studies

Social model

Medical model

Health Sciences

Medical Education

Episode 5 of Research and Resource rounds discusses the paper, “Racialized disablement and the need for conceptual analysis of “racial health disparities,” published in the journal Bioethics, as part of our collection disability in the health sciences: key arguments and issues at stake, language, and history.

Article: Racialized Disablement and the Need for Conceptual Analysis of ‘Racial Health Disparities.’

Author: Desiree Valentine

Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12979.

Transcript

Keywords:

Racialized Disablement

Medical Racism

Racial Health Disparities

Disability terminology

Disability studies

Social model

Medical model

Health Sciences

Medical Education

In Episode 4 we review the prevalence of disability among individuals across the continuum of medical training and practice and data from three recently published studies that break down disability in medical school, residency, and among practicing physicians.

Keywords: Disability Prevalence; Data, Medical Education, DocsWithDisabilities 

Transcript

The authors enumerate a series of models used to conceptualize disability and the terminology associated with each model. They provide in-depth explorations of person-first and identity-first language, recommend avoiding euphemisms, and argue against the language restrictions imposed by some style guides.

Article:

“The Evolution of Disability Language: Choosing Terms to Describe Disability” by Erin E. Andrews, Robyn M. Powell, and Kara Ayers. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2022.101328

Key Words: Disability terminology, Disability language, Disability studies, Social model, Medical model, Health Sciences, Medical Education

Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_oN-otcPRD2bv0CqZb4K_EFqTEHO_H5zxpZU1S6sEQ4/edit?usp=sharing

In Episode two we review the thought provoking commentary: “Disability and the Training of Health Professionals” by Tom Shakespare, Lisa I. Iezzoni, and Nora E. Groce (Lancet, 2009). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(09)62050-X.

The authors argue that equitable treatment of disabled patients is an issue of human rights that can only be achieved by improving disability education in health sciences education. They write that the topic of disability must be increased across the health sciences, from educational training to infrastructural adjustments and the representation of people with disabilities among health sciences professionals and students.

The new Research and Resource Rounds are introduced: These mini-casts will provide an overview of literature and resources relevant to disability inclusion in the health sciences. Each short episode will review critical commentaries and research articles in 15 minutes or less. The podcast presents selected literature in themed “collections” listed in the podcast.