ArticleBMC medical education2025
Learning about social suffering through illness narrative: possibilities and challenges.
Article in BMC medical education, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundUnderstanding social determinants of health is a crucial aspect of holistic healthcare, and cultivating empathy toward patients' suffering is increasingly recognized as a core competency for healthcare professionals. Although previous studies have examined the efficacy of narrative medicine-based education in enhancing empathic responses to patients, the possibility of learning concept of "social suffering" through patient illness narrative remains underexplored.
methodsThis study presents a qualitative analysis of short essays submitted by forty second-year medical students at a single medical school after a class based on narrative medicine principle. The students analyzed and interpreted a transcript of a patient with hypertension, revealing various dimensions of the illness experience, including anxiety regarding the disease, aversion to antihypertensive medications, and encounters with stigmatization and discrimination in the workplace. Using an iterative coding process with both inductive and deductive elements, we identified patterns in how students conceptualized suffering and engaged with social dimensions of illness.
resultsOur analysis yielded three major themes: (1) categorical framings of suffering, (2) emerging recognition of narrative complexity, and (3) limited engagement with structural dimensions of social suffering. While students readily identified physical and psychological aspects of suffering, most demonstrated surface-level engagement with social dimensions. The students' responses revealed challenges in moving beyond individualistic frameworks to recognize how social, cultural, and institutional factors shape illness experiences in Korean society.
conclusionWhile the narrative medicine approach successfully fostered recognition of suffering's complexity and the importance of empathy, students' limited engagement with social suffering suggests the need for curricular enhancements. We propose a spiral curriculum that progressively deepens students' understanding of social determinants of health, integrates qualitative research methodologies, and explicitly addresses Korean sociocultural contexts that shape illness experiences. This approach may better equip future physicians to recognize and address social suffering in their clinical practice.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.