This research aims to identify the Medical Humanities’ constitutive elements and their operational role in the development of professional skills for healthcare practitioners. Within a sequential multi-method design it is possible to identify – through a grounded theory research – an empirical theory of the MH in Italy, which is then compared with the meaningful English experience. To this aim data are collected and analyzed by adopting a phenomenological approach. The results reveal that MH in Italy are still in their infancy and require a more systemic approach that includes all the actors of the healthcare community. MH projects in the United Kingdom follow two branches of development: on one hand the core of MH is moving from interdisciplinarity to a democratization process; on the other the research dimension seems to prevail on the educational one. To improve the quality of life of patients and healthcare professionals by supporting a scientific epistemology which includes a socio-cultural perspective, MH professionals need to follow a more rigorous methodology and evaluation, to reflect on their hidden personal intention going beyond the moralistic idea of a necessary humanisation of healthcare services, and work on practices to reach a knowledge alive to the present.
Understanding Medical Humanities through a multi-method comparative research design
BEVILACQUA, Alessia Maria Aurora
2012
Abstract
This research aims to identify the Medical Humanities’ constitutive elements and their operational role in the development of professional skills for healthcare practitioners. Within a sequential multi-method design it is possible to identify – through a grounded theory research – an empirical theory of the MH in Italy, which is then compared with the meaningful English experience. To this aim data are collected and analyzed by adopting a phenomenological approach. The results reveal that MH in Italy are still in their infancy and require a more systemic approach that includes all the actors of the healthcare community. MH projects in the United Kingdom follow two branches of development: on one hand the core of MH is moving from interdisciplinarity to a democratization process; on the other the research dimension seems to prevail on the educational one. To improve the quality of life of patients and healthcare professionals by supporting a scientific epistemology which includes a socio-cultural perspective, MH professionals need to follow a more rigorous methodology and evaluation, to reflect on their hidden personal intention going beyond the moralistic idea of a necessary humanisation of healthcare services, and work on practices to reach a knowledge alive to the present.
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