MedTrace Logo

Investigating the Effects of a Short Narratology Education Module on Empathy and Patient-centred Communication in Early-stage Medical Students.

NCT07084077 · Status: COMPLETED · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 22

Last updated 2025-08-07

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Effective communication is a fundamental skill in clinical medicine; however, traditional approaches often fail to equip learners with an ability to authentically and empathically engage with the complexities of real patients' experiences. Narratology education has been proposed as a pedagogical framework for augmenting empathy and patient-centred communication in medical students.

In April 2025, we undertook a mixed-methods pilot study to evaluate the impact of a one-week narratology education module on second-year undergraduate medical students at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), Dublin. The module involved close reading, group viewings, facilitated small-group workshops, and whole-group discussions in response to narrative works by Irish writers and storytellers, followed by written personal reflections. At the outset and conclusion of the module, each student undertook a clinical history with a simulated patient (SP) portraying early-stage dementia. SPs assessed each student's empathy and communication using the CARE Measure.

Conditions

  • Empathy
  • Patient-centredness
  • Narrative Medicine

Interventions

OTHER

Narratology education module

At RCSI Dublin, mentioned by James Joyce in Dubliners, a one-week student-choice module Narrative Medicine: lessons from Irish writers and storytellers was offered to those in the second of our five-year undergraduate medical degree program, i.e., students were 18-months into the curriculum, had limited communication skills training, and no real-world clinical exposure. The module used close reading, group viewing, small-group workshops, and whole-group discussions to foster narrative competence. A medically-trained narratology-expert facilitated students' interrogation of classic and award-winning non-healthcare themed works by Irish writers and storytellers, i.e., directors and/or producers.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown

    lead OTHER

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2025-04-02
Primary Completion
2025-04-30
Completion
2025-07-10

Countries

  • Ireland

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07084077 on ClinicalTrials.gov