Use of narratives to enhance learning of research ethics in residents and researchers.

Kang Sim,Min Yi Sum,Deborah Navedo

doi:10.1186/s12909-015-0329-y

Abstract

BackgroundPast didactic pedagogy on biomedical research ethics and informed consent in our program had resulted in passive memorization of information and disengaged learning within psychiatry residents and clinical researchers. The question is how do we better motivate and engage learners within the session. Thus, we incorporated narratives into the learning environment and hypothesised that the use of narratives in the teaching of biomedical research ethics and informed consent would be associated with greater engagement, motivation, understanding, reflective learning and effectiveness of the teaching session.MethodsThe narratives were chosen from the history of research ethics and the humanities literature related to human subject research. Learners were asked to provide post-session feedback through an anonymised questionnaire on their learning session. An outcomes logic model was used for assessment with focus on immediate outcomes such as engagement, motivation, understanding and reflective learning.ResultsOverall, 70.5% (N = 273) of the learners responded to the questionnaire. Amongst the respondents, 92.6% (N = 253) of the participants ranked use of narratives as most helpful in appreciating the historical context of research ethics and informed consent in research. The majority felt engaged (89.8%, N = 245), more motivated to learn (77.5%, N = 212) and better equipped (86.4%, N = 236) about the subject matter. Better appreciation of the learning topic, engagement, motivation to learn, equipping were strongly correlated with the promotion of reflective learning, effectiveness of teaching, promotion of critical thinking and overall positive rating of the teaching session on research ethics (all p < 0.001). Multivariate analyses found that the use of narratives was associated with higher overall rating of the teaching session (p = 0.003) and promotion of critical thinking (p = 0.02).ConclusionResults revealed that the use of narratives could enhance engagement, appreciation of biomedical research ethics and informed consent, and address underlying motivational factors behind learning and understanding of research ethics.

Highlights

Past didactic pedagogy on biomedical research ethics and informed consent in our program had resulted in passive memorization of information and disengaged learning within psychiatry residents and clinical researchers
Observations by the teaching faculty found that past didactic pedagogy on specific topics such as “Research Ethics and Informed Consent” had resulted in passive, disengaged and unmotivated learners within a dry knowledge context, which in turn led to ineffective application of ethical principles to practice
Four narratives that were incorporated into the teaching session were garnered from the history of research ethics related to the Nuremberg Code (Nazi experiments conducted during the Second World War), Belmont Commission report (Tuskegee syphilis project) and from the literature related to human subject research

Summary

Introduction

Past didactic pedagogy on biomedical research ethics and informed consent in our program had resulted in passive memorization of information and disengaged learning within psychiatry residents and clinical researchers. Observations by the teaching faculty found that past didactic pedagogy on specific topics such as “Research Ethics and Informed Consent” had resulted in passive, disengaged and unmotivated learners within a dry knowledge context, which in turn led to ineffective application of ethical principles to practice. Informal conversations with these learners had revealed the consistent theme that past learners were not able to see the relevance and congruence of ethical principles to their own clinical contexts, background and past experience in research

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion