Quantitative metrics and psychometric scales in the visual art and medical education literature: a narrative review

ABSTRACT

The authors conduct a narrative review of the quantitative observation metrics and psychometric scales utilized in the visual arts and medical education literature in order to provide medical educators with a ‘toolkit’ of quantitative metrics with which to design and evaluate novel visual arts-based pedagogies. These efforts are intended to support the AAMC and National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s aims to formally evaluate and integrate arts and humanities curricula into traditional scientific educational programming. The scales reviewed examine a variety of domains including tolerance for ambiguity, bias, burnout, communication, empathy, grit, and mindfulness/reflection. Observation skill, given the heterogeneity of quantitative metrics, is reviewed separately.

KEYWORDS:

• Medical education
• medical humanities
• curriculum development
• visual arts
• observation skill

Acknowledgments

John David Ike received support for this publication from the VA Office of Academic Affiliations through the VA National Clinician Scholars Program and the University of Michigan Department of Medicine. The contents do not represent the views of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the U.S. Government.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Office of Academic Affiliations, Department of Veterans Affairs