Humanities Instruction in Physical Therapy Education to Cultivate Empathy, Recognize Implicit Bias, and Enhance Communication: A Case Series

This article strives to encourage the use of humanities within physical therapy education and practice by offering examples of three health humanities-based instructional activities, including two implemented at US universities. “As curricular models in physical therapy education evolve,” the author notes, “the importance of humanities-based instruction to develop empathetic physical therapists should be considered and implemented, as it will not only benefit future patients, but the field of physical therapy as well.”

Eye Spy 2022: Improving Nonverbal Communication and Interprofessional Perceptions in Health Science Students

In a second article deeply exploring the insights of the Eye Spy program (see Eye Spy, 2018), Cynthia Dodds et al examine the effects of guided visits to an art museum on affective domain development and interprofessional perspective in health science students. The authors demonstrate, step by step, how using visual-thinking-strategy instruction in a museum setting can support the development of “compassionate and patient- and family-integrated care providers.”

Eye Spy for Physical Therapy Graduate Education

Cindy B. Dodds, PT, PhD, PCS and colleagues describe how their successful pilot program took physical therapy students out of the university setting and into a local art museum for a unique experience of observation using visual thinking strategies.