Extending Arts-Based Interventions in Graduate Medical Education through the Positive Humanities: the Re-FRAME Workshop

BackgroundArts-and-humanities-based interventions are commonly implemented in medical education to promote well-being and mitigate the risk of burnout. However, mechanisms for achieving these effects remain uncertain within graduate medical education. The emerging field of the positive humanities offers a lens to examine whether and how arts-based interventions support well-being in internal medicine interns.AimThrough program evaluation of this visual art workshop, we used a positive humanities framework to elucidate potential mechanisms by which arts-based curricula support well-being in internal medicine interns.SettingWe launched the re-FRAME workshop at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in winter 2020.ParticipantsFifty-six PGY-1 trainees from one internal medicine residency program.Program DescriptionThe 3-h re-FRAME workshop consisted of an introductory session on emotional processing followed by two previously described arts-based interventions.Program EvaluationParticipants completed an immediate post-workshop survey (91% response rate) assessing attitudes towards the session. Analysis of open-ended survey data demonstrated 4 categories for supporting well-being among participants: becoming emotionally aware/expressive through art, pausing for reflection, practicing nonjudgmental observation, and normalizing experiences through socialization.DiscussionOur project substantiated proposed mechanisms from the positive humanities for supporting well-being-including reflectiveness, skill acquisition, socialization, and expressiveness-among medical interns.

Automated summary

This study used a positive humanities framework to evaluate a visual art workshop for internal medicine interns. The findings suggest that arts-based interventions can support well-being in medical interns by promoting emotional awareness and expression, reflection, non-judgmental observation, and socialization.