Mohammed Zain, Ba Hafsah, Nasim Linta, Reid Emily Roisin
Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, West Midlands, United Kingdom.
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Coventry, United Kingdom.
Front Med (Lausanne). 2025 May 9;12:1545437. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1545437. eCollection 2025.
Muslim medical students in the UK face discrimination, microaggressions, and inadequate institutional support, affecting their well-being, academic experience and outcomes. Using Case-Based Learning (CBL) as a pedagogical framework, a novel student-led teaching intervention was created and delivered to small groups of faculty and students, with the aim of enhancing awareness, promoting inclusivity, and supporting educators of these issues.
This CBL intervention was designed and led by Muslim medical student facilitators with subject expertise and previous experience in implementing curricular interventions. Scenarios based on real-life student experiences explored authentic challenges Muslim students face during their medical studies. Data were gathered to assess the effectiveness of the teaching innovation against its aims in the following formats: (1) in-session participant feedback, (2) transcriptions of the in-session discussions which demonstrated participant learning gain, and (3) notes from the post-session facilitator team reflections. These data were thematically analyzed using Braun and Clarke's six-point framework, with individuals coding the data individually and collectively across three meetings to refine and agree upon the themes.
Five key themes of insights emerged from the data: Staff and Student cultural literacy relating to Islam, Facilities and Environment, Curriculum, Policy and Processes, Islamophobia and discrimination. The in-session discussions evidenced that participants had increased their cultural literacy and awareness of Muslim students' needs and identified practical solutions, including inclusive scheduling, making appropriate prayer facilities available to enable equitable educational attainment, providing clear clinical attire guidelines, and providing robust reporting mechanisms. The facilitators reflected that the students-as-experts aspect of the intervention equalized the usual faculty-student power dynamics. This promoted a sense of partnership that enabled participants in the sessions to take ownership of their own learning.
CBL presented a valuable format for student-faculty discussions to promote cultural competence and equity in medical education. Variability in assumed knowledge and cultural literacy posed challenges, reinforcing the need for broader implementation of Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI) training and enhanced institutional support networks to develop cultural literacy further.
This student-led CBL educational innovation brokered a dialogue between students and faculty around solutions to the challenges faced by Muslim medical students. Given its success, student-led staff training could be expanded to address challenges faced by other minority groups, ensuring a more equitable and culturally competent learning environment.
英国的穆斯林医学生面临歧视、微侵犯行为以及机构支持不足的问题，这影响了他们的幸福感、学术体验和学业成果。以基于案例的学习（CBL）作为教学框架，创建了一种由学生主导的新型教学干预措施，并向一小群教师和学生进行了传授，目的是提高对这些问题的认识、促进包容性并为教育工作者提供支持。
这项CBL干预措施由具备学科专业知识和实施课程干预经验的穆斯林医学生协调员设计和主导。基于真实学生经历的情景探讨了穆斯林学生在医学学习过程中面临的实际挑战。收集数据以评估这项教学创新在实现其目标方面的有效性，数据形式如下：（1）课堂参与者反馈；（2）课堂讨论记录，展示了参与者的学习收获；（3）课后协调员团队反思笔记。使用布劳恩和克拉克的六点框架对这些数据进行主题分析，个人在三次会议中分别和集体对数据进行编码，以完善并确定主题。
数据中出现了五个关键的见解主题：与伊斯兰教相关的教职员工和学生文化素养、设施与环境、课程、政策与流程、伊斯兰恐惧症和歧视。课堂讨论证明，参与者提高了他们的文化素养以及对穆斯林学生需求的认识，并确定了切实可行的解决方案，包括包容性的课程安排、提供合适的祈祷设施以确保公平的教育成就、提供明确的临床着装指南以及提供完善的举报机制。协调员们反映，干预措施中让学生成为专家的做法平衡了通常的师生权力动态。这促进了一种伙伴关系意识，使课堂参与者能够自主掌控自己的学习。
CBL为师生讨论提供了一种有价值的形式，以促进医学教育中的文化能力和公平性。假设知识和文化素养的差异带来了挑战，这进一步凸显了更广泛实施公平、多样性和包容性（EDI）培训以及加强机构支持网络以进一步培养文化素养的必要性。
这项由学生主导的CBL教育创新促成了学生和教师之间围绕解决穆斯林医学生所面临挑战的对话。鉴于其成功，由学生主导的员工培训可以扩大到解决其他少数群体所面临的挑战，确保营造一个更加公平且具备文化能力的学习环境。
