Abstract / Summary
In recent years, the arts and humanities (A&H) have been recognized as a valuable strategy in medical education, with the potential to develop important clinical attributes. A student processfolio, which includes artefacts documenting students’ ongoing learning and reflections, offers an A&H-based pedagogical tactic to support medical students’ development as learners and future physicians. However, less is known about how processfolios enable learning and reflection in A&H-based activities and about the individual lived experiences of learners with the processfolio. This study explores the use of the processfolio in a 4-week art museum-based medical school for-credit course. We conducted the study at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, inviting students who had completed the course to participate in a research study in which they shared their experiences with the processfolio. We employed a cross-sectional qualitative design with an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) methodological approach to analyze data from two summative course assignments (completed processfolios and final written reflections) as well as individual semi-structured interviews. All five fourth-year medical students who completed the course opted to participate in the research study. IPA revealed four Group Experiential Themes highlighting the experience of participants with the processfolio: (1) Contemplating the journey of reflection, growth, and insight; (2) Exploring personal and emotional growth; (3) Communicating in clinical contexts – the importance and complexity of verbal and non-verbal communication; and (4) Acknowledging the complex history of medicine and advocating for better practices. Learners also shared challenges related to the use of the processfolio. This study explores how processfolios may enable learning and reflection in A&H-based activities, with the aim of better understanding the lived experiences of students. Learners reflected on their development as medical students and future physicians. Future research in this area is needed given the single institution and small sample size.