Judith Sim (BMTO) and Hannah Lesshafft (BMTO, Usher Institute) Between Paradigms: building competence in social sciences for students of medical sciences Judith Sim (BMTO) and Hannah Lesshafft (BMTO, Usher Institute)

Health, Illness and Society 3 Distribution of health and illness: epidemiology Experiencing illness and providing care: social sciences Ethical provision of care and distribution of health-related resources: bioethics, philosophy Effective interventions: social policy and social science Beyond the disease is the person, but beyond the person are always the time and place and particular circumstances in which they live and die Helman, 2006:35

Teaching materials and activities: Stories from individual patients (via videos or student-conducted interviews) Qualitative research findings on experiences of illness Ethics case studies Epidemiological studies Debates on e.g. assisted dying or limits to the concept of ‘the expert patient’

Opportunities ‘I liked Molecules, Genes and Cells but by the beginning of third year I was really, really ready to look beyond that kind of frame’ PTAS Respondent Students can be very ready to put into a social context earlier experimental or laboratory-based study of disease and the human body. HIS can tap into pre-existing enthusiasm for e.g. global health, ethics or patient care. Come to us with interest

Challenges ‘I believe that men report fewer symptoms compared to women and as a consequence reach the threshold for depression less’ (Gardner, 2016) [from an essay on the influence of gender on prevalence of depression] Establishing that HIS is based on specialised bodies of knowledge Challenging: ‘common-sense’ assumptions that HIS is material which ‘everybody knows’ and to which an everyday or common-sense logic can be applied that opinion cannot substitute for building evidence-based argument

Principal’s Teaching Award Scheme (PTAS) Small grant to do research with the aim to improve teaching Collaborative project with staff and students Research questions: What challenges do students face in moving between the disciplinary approaches of the natural and social sciences? How do students understand similarities and differences in evidence and argument-building between the two disciplines? What educational approaches and activities can support understanding of these differences and similarities in the transition from one disciplinary approach to another?

Methods The PTAS team: 5 students who finished the HIS course and HIS staff Initial focus group discussion (FGD) with the PTAS student team Subsequent semi-structured individual interviews with previous HIS students (conducted by PTAS team) Thematic analysis (HIS staff) To date: preliminary results from the FGD and 4 individual student interviews

Preliminary results of PTAS project Anxiety about engaging with social sciences literature Feeling “frightened” for the first few weeks “Different style of writing, difficult to wrap your head around it” “It took until midway through [the course] to “get it” Then started enjoying it more Appreciation of “more human” side of medicine Interviews with patients (for essay 2) helped “making the switch” Understanding patients’ experiences, “connecting to real people” Ability to use this understanding in clinical classes

Preliminary results of PTAS project Critical thinking sparked new interests “It made me really angry… for the first time I’ve become interested in politics, the politics that govern health, the socio-economic determinants of it.” Questioning ‘common-sense assumptions’ provoked discussions “What is health?” became a running joke throughout the course and was discussed in light of different topics, even in tea breaks Aha-moments when learning from students from other countries

Preliminary results of PTAS project Need of support with social science theory Uncertainty about what is expected in assignments Asked for lists of main concepts to help preparing assignments More guidance on techniques to read and write in social sciences __________________________________________________ A one-off introduction workshop will not be sufficient Students need time to learn how to read and build arguments in social sciences Patient experience serves as good entry point Continuous adaptation of course structure and content