Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Graduate Institute of Humanities in Medicine, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
BMC Med Educ. 2021 Sep 11;21(1):489. doi: 10.1186/s12909-021-02923-1.
Gross anatomy laboratory course at medical school is usually an important learning subject for medical students; however, seeing a cadaver often makes them feel uncomfortable. According to the broaden-and-build theory, positive emotions broaden our inventory of thoughts and actions, and build physical, mental, and social resources. Research on positive psychology found that through direct thanks and positive reframing, people who feel gratitude show fewer depressive symptoms. The present study tried to reduce students' negative emotions towards cadavers by sequential activities, such as family interviews and an initiation ceremony, which induced gratitude and other positive emotions.
The Emotional Reactions Towards Cadavers Scale (ERTCS) was used to evaluate medical students' emotional reactions after they see a cadaver. Third year medical students (n = 105) at Taipei Medical University in northern Taiwan completed ERTCS on three occasions within a single semester during academic year 2016. Repeated-measures ANOVA and hierarchical regression analyses were then conducted to identify any changes in the emotional reactions of these students.
The ERTCS showed satisfactory internal consistency and a three-factor structure, i.e., negative emotions, high-level emotions, and excited emotions. High-level emotions were the highest, and negative emotions were the lowest among the three in our sample. Three-wave data showed that participants' high-level emotions increased, negative emotions decreased, and the former simultaneously predicted the latter after controlling for the influence of gender, religious beliefs, experience of the death of a family member or friend, and burnout level.
While past research usually focused on coping strategies to reduce medical students' negative emotions, our study supported the broaden-and-build theory, which emphasizes positive emotions, and demonstrated that elevating medical students' gratitude to 'silent mentors' is an effective way. It is suggested that combining dissection courses with medical humanities can help students successfully handle negative emotions during a gross anatomy laboratory course.
医学院的大体解剖实验室课程通常是医学生的重要学习科目；然而，看到尸体往往会让他们感到不舒服。根据拓宽-构建理论，积极情绪拓宽了我们的思想和行为范围，并构建了身体、心理和社会资源。积极心理学的研究发现，通过直接表达感谢和积极重塑，感到感激的人表现出较少的抑郁症状。本研究试图通过顺序活动来减轻学生对尸体的负面情绪，例如家庭访谈和启动仪式，这些活动可以引起感激和其他积极情绪。
使用尸体情感反应量表（ERTCS）评估北台湾台北医学大学的三年级医学生（n=105）在一个学期内三次看到尸体后的情感反应。然后进行重复测量方差分析和层次回归分析，以确定这些学生情感反应的任何变化。
ERTCS 显示出令人满意的内部一致性和三因素结构，即负面情绪、高级情绪和兴奋情绪。在我们的样本中，高级情绪最高，负面情绪最低。三波数据显示，参与者的高级情绪增加，负面情绪减少，并且在控制性别、宗教信仰、家庭成员或朋友死亡的经历以及倦怠水平的影响后，前者同时预测了后者。
虽然过去的研究通常侧重于减少医学生负面情绪的应对策略，但我们的研究支持了拓宽-构建理论，该理论强调积极情绪，并表明提高医学生对“无声导师”的感激之情是一种有效途径。建议将解剖课程与医学人文学科相结合，帮助学生在大体解剖实验室课程中成功处理负面情绪。
