Can storytelling of women’s lived experience enhance empathy in medical students? A pilot intervention study

Figures & data

Table 1. Analysis of JSE scores of student participants in live (L, n = 10) and recorded (R, n = 12) intervention.

Student	Pre-intervention JSE score	Rank	Normalised rank	Post- intervention JSE score	Relative rank	Normalised relative rank	x
L7	98	1.0	0.045	104	4.0	0.182	0.136
L3	103	2.5	0.114	117	11.5	0.523	0.409
L8	103	2.5	0.114	101	1.5	0.068	−0.045
R2	104	4.0	0.182	101	1.5	0.068	−0.114
L4	106	5.0	0.227	106	5.0	0.227	0.000
R12	109	6.0	0.273	124	19.5	0.886	0.614
R5	110	7.0	0.318	110	7.0	0.318	0.000
L1	112	8.0	0.364	122	18.5	0.841	0.477
R3	114	9.5	0.432	127	22.5	1.023	0.591
R7	114	9.5	0.432	117	11.5	0.523	0.091
R4	114^a	11.0	0.500	113	8.5	0.386	−0.114
R6	118	12.5	0.568	120	16.5	0.750	0.182
R10	118	12.5	0.568	123	18.5	0.841	0.273
L10	119	15.0	0.682	123	18.5	0.841	0.159
R9	119	15.0	0.682	126	22.5	1.023	0.341
R11	119	15.0	0.682	119	15.0	0.682	0.000
R8	121	17.0	0.773	128	22.5	1.023	0.250
L6	121^a	18.0	0.818	128^a	22.5	1.023	0.205
L9	124	19.5	0.886	127^a	22.5	1.023	0.136
R1	124	19.5	0.886	129	22.5	1.023	0.136
L2	125	21.5	0.977	124	19.5	0.886	−0.091
L5	125	21.5	0.977	127	22.5	1.023	0.045

^aRounded after substitution of average values for missing values.

Normalised rank, rank divided by 22 to obtain a scale from 0 to 1.

Relative rank, rank relative to pre-intervention scores.

x, Difference in normalised rank pre-intervention and normalised relative rank post-intervention.

Table 2. Students’ comments to live intervention (L) and recorded intervention (R).

Categories	Student	Sample quotes
Improved understanding of women’s experiences	Student 2 (L)	More aware of everyday/personal things that can be expressed-note to be empathetic for even minor conditions
	Student 4 (L)	This session reinforced how gynaecological conditions have significant effect on women across many aspects of their lives
	Student 5 (L)	Reminded me that everyone has a different lived experience and important to be an ally to patients and allow them to talk to you
	Student 5 (R)	It made me realize that listening to a patient and hearing the impact on the day to day can change appropriate management. I did really enjoy the session and it made me want to make the topic of periods more normal to discuss so that it is easier for women to get solutions to their problems and stresses involved with periods
	Student 7 (R)	The variability in one’s life and experience with these issues can be far more encompassing than I imagined. Whether it be the impact on infringing on their work and social habits. It brought to my attention the need for compassion, understanding (even as a male) and appropriate empathy in walking along the patient journey. There often seems to be a lot of misunderstanding around their experiences and lack of appreciation for what they are dealing with. I realise that there are many deficiencies that exist in women’s health be it in the community or hospital level care, hopefully I can make a positive impact on experiences which were not so pleasurable for these patients.
	Student 10 (R)	It is clear that women who have problems with their period are often dismissed by physicians and clearly women’s health care has a long way to go in terms of providing the best care. I hadn’t realised this before the session.
In-person session	Student 1 (L)	In person session would be more impactful and more personalised
	Student 2 (L)	Not on Zoom- have structured/targeted not shared. A lot was medical history > experiences
	Student 6 (L)	Listening to stories face to face (may not be possible due to (COVID/omicron)
	Student 9 (L)	Have in person. May be can use more imagery if on zoom to relate to the speakers on ZOOM. But on Zoom in afternoon is tricky with audio issues, some personal trouble concentrating. Otherwise, would be really good even with pictures if possible of women’s lives, time in hospital
	Student 9 (R)	Good to have a Q&A with any volunteers who would want to attend in person/zoom. Its one thing to have a lecture on abnormal bleeding vs actually hearing their experiences with it. Nothing beats lived experience
Interactive discussions	Student 1 (R)	I think if you had a discussion after each video it would help to bring up more point
	Student 4 (R)	Perhaps discussion in small groups or pairs, especially for male students