Vol. 24 No. 2: Special Issue Conference "The art of observation"
Short paper

Can Visual Thinking Strategies training develop medical student empathy?

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  • Zara Riaz,
  • Collette Hand,
  • Laura McKenna,
  • Fiona McSweeney,
  • Siobán Murphy,
  • Nora McCarthy,
  • Colm O’Tuathaigh
Zara Riaz
School of Medicine, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
Collette Hand
Department of Pathology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
Laura McKenna
Medical Education Unit, School of Medicine, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
Fiona McSweeney
Cork University Dental School and Hospital, Cork, Ireland
Siobán Murphy
School of Medicine, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
Nora McCarthy
Medical Education Unit, School of Medicine, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
Colm O’Tuathaigh
Medical Education Unit, School of Medicine, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
DOI: https://doi.org/10.13135/1971-8551/11314

Published 2024-11-20

Keywords

  • the art of observation

Abstract

Empathy in the context of medical education is frequently defined as a cognitive attribute that involves an understanding of patients’ experiences and perspectives, including a motivation and capacity to act on this understanding to safeguard patient-centred care. Interventions aiming at developing medical students’ cognitive empathy have been developed. Here we hypothesise that participation in a Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) course will improve psychometrically assessed cognitive empathy in medical students, and that this change in empathy will be mediated by students’ personality traits.

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