EMPATHY IN HEALTH HUMANITIES PROGRAMS: A REFLECTION OF MY GROWTH AND TIME IN THE HEALTH AND HUMAN VALUES MINOR

Abstract

At my time at the University of Arizona, I had the privilege of being a part of the Health and Human Values minor cohort. This minor is a unique health humanities minor offered by the Honors College. Through this minor, I have found that my empathy in the context of health and medicine has grown. This was something I grew curious about and researched other health humanities programs to see what they had found on the impact of their program on their students’ empathy. I found that health humanities programs may hold the key to increasing empathy in undergraduate pre-medical students striving to be healthcare professionals in a world where physician burnout is on the rise. I discuss my experience in the introductory course and internship course in the minor, how the courses succeed in increasing empathy and how my empathy grew from the unique challenges and coursework presented by this minor.