Comunicação apresentada no 3rd European Congress on Physiotherapy Education, Viena, 201

Caeiro, C.

Cruz, Eduardo Brazete

Mendes Pereira, Carla

Repositório Comum

SESSION 34(Platform Presentations)Education, transition, and specialization 5Friday, November 9, 2012ROOM C.E.0211:10-12:25hrs34.002Arts, literature and reflective writing as educationalstrategies to facilitate empathy and reflexive skills among physiotherapy studentsE. B. Cruz1, C. S. F. Caeiro2, C. M. Pereira11School of Health Care - Setúbal Polythechnic Institute, Setúbal, Portugal, 2Health Collegeof the Polytechnic of Setúbal, Setúbal, PortugalPurpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the final year physiotherapystudents’ perspectives about the contribution of arts, literature and reflective writing infacilitating empathy and reflexive skills.Relevance: The use of arts, literature and reflective writing has becoming increasinglypopular in health professionals education, especially in medical courses. Its use increaseshealth professionals’ sensitivity to understand the singularity of patients’ context and themeaning they give to patients’ illness. Through arts and literature, health students developskills to observe, absorb, interpret and respond empathically to patients’ stories.Simultaneously, reflective writing challenges students to reflect about their clinicalexperiences from the perspective of both themselves and patients. Despite the regularreference to the use of arts, literature and reflective writing in the education of healthprofessionals, research examining its contribution as an educational strategy to promoteempathy and reflexive skills in physiotherapy is limited, particularly from the studentperspective.Participants: Following ethical approval obtained from the Ethics Committee of the hostPolytechnic students were given an information sheet concerning their participation in thestudy. Students, who voluntarily decided to participate, signed a consent form. Data weregathered from eighteen students that had successfully completed a course using arts,literature and reflective writing. Methods: Three focus group meetings using a semi-structured interview schedule wereused to collect data. Focus group sessions were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Analysis: Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to conduct the study andanalyze the transcripts.Results: Three superordinate themes emerged from data Anal Analysis: »developmentalunderstanding of the patients` experiences«, »developmental understanding about the self«and »embedding reflection in clinical practice«. Students emphasised an increasinglycapability to be sensitive and vicariously experience the others` experience. Theydiscussed their experience in looking at paintings and literary texts as a metaphor ofpatients and use them to develop imagination and interpretative skills. They feel morecompetent and skilful in observing, listening and interpreting patients` narratives. Studentsalso reported that they became more aware of themselves, personally and professionally.Through reflective writing students reported they are more capable to think critically abouttheir practice and learning needs for continuous professional development. Theyconsidered reflective writing demanding but critical to improve their capabilities to learnthrough reflection. Finally, students highlighted the contribution of these strategies inmaking reflection part of their daily practice. Conclusions: Final year physiotherapy students reported enhanced skills of empathy andreflection, which they related to the educational strategies used in the course. Implications: This findings support the inclusion of those strategies within thephysiotherapy undergraduate curricula, but further studies are needed to examine howthose skills impact on students’ clinical practice.TO THE 3RD EUROPEAN CONGRESS ON PHYSIOTHERAPY EDUCATION 154

Arts, literature and reflective writing as educational stratagies to facilitate empathy and reflexive skills among physiotherapy students

http://comum.rcaap.pt/bitstream/10400.26/5742/1/Arts%2c%20literature%20and%20reflective%20writing%20as%20educational%20strategies%20to%20facilitate%20empathy%20and%20reflexive%20skills%20among%20physiotherapy%20students.pdf

Arts, literature and reflective writing as educational stratagies to facilitate empathy and reflexive skills among physiotherapy students

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Repositório Comum