Graphic Novels and Comics in Undergraduate and Graduate Medical Students Education: A Scoping Review
Abstract
:1. Introduction
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- What has been done in using graphic novels in medical education?
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- What population has been included?
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- What theories underlie the studies?
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- What are the expected outcomes?
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- What are the advantages/disadvantages?
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- What are the knowledge gaps?
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Population
2.2. Concepts
2.3. Eligibility Criteria and Source of Information
2.4. Selection and Data Charting
2.5. Synthesis of Results
3. Results
3.1. Descriptive Summary of the Selected Articles
3.2. Thematic Analysis
3.2.1. Expected Learning Outcomes
3.2.2. Reaction of Learners
3.2.3. Theories and Methods
3.2.4. Efficacy as a Vicarious Learning
4. Discussion
4.1. What Have Been Done in Using Graphic Novels in Medical Education? What Population Has Been Included? What Expected Outcomes?
4.2. What Theories Do Underlie the Studies?
4.3. What Are the Advantages/Disadvantages?
4.4. Limitations
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Year | Author | Title | Subjects | Type | Intervention | Themes | Theory |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2011 | Park [15] | “Anatomy comic strips” | Undergraduate students (no #) | Case study | Reading comics on basic anatomy |
| |
2013 | Green [12] | “Teaching with Comics: A Course for Fourth-Year Medical Students” | Undergraduate students (no #) | Case study | Reading, drawing graphic pathographies Discussing in small group |
| |
2014 | Babaian [16] | “Comic books, graphic novels, and a novel approach to teaching anatomy and surgery” | Undergraduate students (no #) Residents in surgery (no #) | Case study | Reading and drawing comics on anatomy of the neck |
|
|
2014 | Babaian [11] | “’The Thyroidectomy Story’: Comic Books, Graphic Novels, and the Novel Approach to Teaching Head and Neck Surgery Through the Genre of the Comic Book” | Residents in surgery (no #) | Case study | Reading and drawing Surgical anatomy of a thyroidectomy as a “story” |
| |
2015 | George [17] | “Lessons Learned from Comics Produced by Medical Students: Art of Darkness” | Undergraduate students (66/year for three years) | Case study | Drawing comics in an elective called “Comics in Medicine”, fourth-year students |
| |
2015 | Green [18] | “Comics and medicine: peering into the process of professional identity formation” | Undergraduate students (n. 58) | Qualitative thematic analysis | Reading, drawing, discussing comics |
| |
2015 | Joshi [19] | “Using comics for pre-class preparation” | Undergraduate students (n. 19) | Post-survey on students’ opinion | Reading comics as a preparation in a flipped approach |
| |
2016 | Goldenberg [20] | “Comics: A step toward the future of medicine and medical education?” | - | Editorial | - |
| Dual coding theory |
2016 | Tsao [21] | “’There’s no billing code for empathy’—Animated comics remind medical students of empathy: a qualitative study” | Undergraduate students (n. 25) | Qualitative–quantitative post-study: thematic analysis, Jefferson scale of empathy | Reading a graphic novel on diabetes |
| Kolb’s learning cycle |
2017 | Kim [22] | “The use of educational comics in learning anatomy among multiple student groups” | Undergraduate students (n. 49) | Post-survey on students’ opinion | Reading graphic novels on basic anatomy |
| |
2018 | Anand [23] | “Perception about use of comics in medical and nursing education among students in health professions’ schools in New Delhi” | Undergraduate students (n. 130) | Cross-sectional survey | Participating to the survey after a lecture on graphic medicine |
| |
2018 | Laland [24] | “Teaching confidentiality through comics at one Spanish Medical School” [Note: the article is a comic] | Undergraduate students (n. 120 vs. 120) | Comparative: use of customized comics vs. more traditional methods | Reading Discussing Drawing comics |
| |
2018 | Monk [25] | “Go home, med student: Comics as visual media for students’ traumatic medical education experiences” | Undergraduate student (n. 1) | Essay on a comic created by a medical student | - |
| |
2018 | Wang [26] | “Graphic Stories as Cultivators of Empathy in Medical Clerkship Education” | Undergraduate students (n. 16) | Qualitative thematic analysis of post-interviews | Reading two online comics |
| |
2019 | Joshi [27] | “Comics as an Educational Tool on a Clinical Clerkship” | Undergraduate students (n. 113) | Post-qualitative–quantitative assessment of students’ perceptions | Reading comics of ward life as pre-clerkship materials |
| |
2019 | Maatman [28] | “Patient safety superheroes in training: Using a comic book to teach patient safety to residents” | Internal Medicine residents (n. 50) | Pre–post assessment of awareness and confidence | Reading a comic book to identify 24 safety topics 1-h session |
| |
2020 | Czerwiec [10] | “Graphic Medicine Manifesto” | Undergraduate students | A chapter on medical education | Reading Discussing comics |
| |
2020 | Maatman [29] | “Emotional Content of Comics Drawn by Medical Students and Residents” | Undergraduate students Residents in Internal Medicine (no number, 290 comics analyzed) | Qualitative analysis of emotion category | Drawing “something stressful in medicine” in 10 different sessions |
| Gloria Wilcox’s “Feeling Wheel” |
2020 | Masel [30] | “Using medical comics to explore challenging everyday topics in medicine: lessons learned from teaching medical humanities” | Undergraduate students (n. 505) | Post-quantitative grading of reflective writings | Reading three medical comics within a blended learning setting via the online learning platform |
| |
2020 | Ronan [31] | “A Novel Graphic Medicine Curriculum for Resident Physicians: Boosting Empathy and Communication through Comics” | Undergraduate students (n. 14) Residents in neurology (n. 11) | Qualitative surveys on acceptability, usefulness, and perception of patient needs | Reading Discussing Drawing A four-week curriculum |
| |
2021 | Bradley [13] | “What can medical education learn from comics?” | Undergraduate students (no #) | Student’s essay | Reading Drawing A four-week curriculum |
| |
2021 | Menezes [32] | “A Systematic Review of Educational Interventions and Their Impact on Empathy and Compassion of Undergraduate Medical Students” | Undergraduate students | Systematic Review | - |
| |
2021 | Shapiro [33] | “Medical Students’ Creation of Original Poetry, Comics, and Masks to Explore Professional Identity Formation” | Undergraduate students (n. 94) | Single-arm post-survey with quantitative and qualitative analysis | Two-hour session using one of three creative media (masks, comics, or poetry) to reflect on their experiences in the first year of clinical training. |
| Visual rhetoric |
2021 | Sutherland [34] | “‘Brought to life through imagery’—animated graphic novels to promote empathic, patient-centred care in postgraduate medical learners” | Residents in pediatric endocrinology (n. 6) | Post-qualitative thematic analysis of focus groups and interviews | Reading Discussing comics 12-month curriculum |
| |
2022 | Adamidis [35] | “The potential of medical comics to teach palliative care skills: a cross-sectional study of 668 medical students” | Undergraduate students (n. 668) | Observational cross-sectional on students’ preferences | Participating to the survey after a lecture on graphic medicine | - | |
2022 | Foreshew [36] | “An intersectional participatory action research approach to explore and address class elitism in medical education” | Undergraduate students (n. 29) | Action research approach, with post-interviews | Drawing Discussing comics |
| Participatory action research Bourdieu’s social theory |
2022 | Maatman [37] | “Increase in Sharing of Stressful Situations by Medical Trainees through Drawing Comics” | Undergraduate students (n. 166) Residents in Internal Medicine (n. 74) | Qualitative thematic analysis of post-survey on students’ preferences | Drawing Discussing comics |
| |
2022 | Tigges [38] | “Graphic Narrative Versus Journal Article for Teaching Medical Students About P Values: A Randomized Trial” | Undergraduate students (n. 140) | Comparative (70 vs. 70) | Reading a comic vs. an article on p statistics |
| |
2023 | De Stefano [39] | “Graphic medicine meets human anatomy: The potential role of comics in raising whole body donation awareness in Italy and beyond. A pilot study” | Undergraduate students (n. 133) | Observational qualitative–quantitative post-survey | Reading Drawing Discussing comics |
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Themes and Subthemes |
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Expected learning outcomes |
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Reaction of learners |
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Theory and methods |
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Efficacy as vicarious learning |
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Consorti, F.; Fiorucci, S.; Martucci, G.; Lai, S. Graphic Novels and Comics in Undergraduate and Graduate Medical Students Education: A Scoping Review. Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ. 2023, 13, 2262-2275. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe13100160
Consorti F, Fiorucci S, Martucci G, Lai S. Graphic Novels and Comics in Undergraduate and Graduate Medical Students Education: A Scoping Review. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education. 2023; 13(10):2262-2275. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe13100160
Chicago/Turabian StyleConsorti, Fabrizio, Sara Fiorucci, Gianfranco Martucci, and Silvia Lai. 2023. "Graphic Novels and Comics in Undergraduate and Graduate Medical Students Education: A Scoping Review" European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education 13, no. 10: 2262-2275. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe13100160
APA StyleConsorti, F., Fiorucci, S., Martucci, G., & Lai, S. (2023). Graphic Novels and Comics in Undergraduate and Graduate Medical Students Education: A Scoping Review. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 13(10), 2262-2275. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe13100160