Perspectives of health, and human and social sciences professionals on student transformation regarding racial discrimination in healthcare.

BACKGROUND

Racial discrimination in medicine covers topics such as the impact of racism on health, implicit biases, or the history of medicine and the involvement of the healthcare system in maintaining discrimination. However, teaching and training in the French medical curriculum are still relatively nonexistent and nonhomogenized. The aim of this study is therefore to examine the perspective of health professionals and human and social scientists on pedagogy aimed at transforming medical students on the subject of racial discrimination in health.

METHODS

Physicians, psychologists and researchers in the humanities and social sciences, having published on the subject of medical care for people from racial minorities and having organised or taken part in courses were recruited. Semistructured interviews were conducted and analysed via thematic content analysis.

RESULTS

Twenty participants were interviewed. Emerging themes were: Moving away from neutrality by exposing realities and exposing students to new identifications; Breaking out of neutrality by exposing yourself as an educator; and Moving Away from neutrality challenging relations of domination in a system in crisis.

DISCUSSION

Our findings suggest the need to spell out the realities and remove taboos before awareness can be raised and the process initiated; the importance of storytelling and the hierarchical example in encouraging people to speak out; and the need to take account of the complex context in which this demanding decentring takes place.

CONCLUSIONS

Change and awareness are accompanied by a variety of feelings, but discomfort, shame and uncertainty can be foundational feelings for antiracism education in medicine. Providing theoretical input on the reality of discrimination, contextualising from a historical point of view, present testimonials, carrying out clinical supervision, and helping to metabolise all this learning through simulation: with this in mind, the aim of this work is to create educational content for French medical students on racial discrimination in medicine.