ArticleBMC medical education2024
Empathy and cultural competence remains stable for medical students: do the humanities have an effect?
Article in BMC medical education, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Empathy and attitudes toward palliative care among Chinese medical students: a cross-sectional study.BMC palliative care · 2026Article
- Cultivating Empathy through Visual Thinking Strategy Workshops for Medical Students and Residents: A Mixed-Methods Study.Yonago acta medica · 2026Article
- Beyond the scalpel: humanistic training and professional identity formation in postgraduate plastic surgery education.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
- In love with medical humanities! A survey on medical students' opinions and satisfaction with an integrated elective course.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Exploring the relationship between professional identity, cultural sensibility, and empathy among nursing students: evidence from path analysis.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- How Art Museums Can Foster the Flourishing of Future Physicians.Perspectives on medical education · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There is a paucity of rigorous longitudinal data regarding the relationship between humanities and their effect on multiple psychometrics. Using an observational art course, we assessed pre- and post-course metrics and longitudinal impacts with 120 preclinical medical students taking the "Art of Observation" between 2016 and 2019. Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) and Jeffreys Transcultural Self-Efficacy Tool (TSET) were assessed annually for four years. Budner Tolerance of Ambiguity (TOA) Scale was administered before and after the course. The JSE showed no drop in empathy as students progressed from first to fourth year (p = 0.374). The TSET showed statistically significant increases in cultural self-efficacy (p < 0.001) in the cognitive and practical components but no change in the affective component of the scale. After the art course, TOA significantly improved on two [solubility (p = 0.009) and complexity (p = 0.21)] of the three subscales, but not novelty (p = 0.62). Empathy and cultural self-efficacy remained consistently high throughout medical school and did not decrease during the clinical years in an institution prioritizing the humanities and community engagement. Comfort with cultural competency generally improved throughout training. After taking an art course that emphasizes cognitive flexibility and a multiple perspectival approach, students demonstrated greater tolerance for ambiguity.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.