MEDICINA CREATIVA: IL RUOLO DEI FUMETTI NEI CORSI DI LAUREA IN MEDICINA

This article presents the results of an exploratory study designed to investigate the expe- riences of medical students who attended comics-based courses during their education. Seventeen in-depth interviews were conducted with U.S. and Canadian male and female students who had completed at least one course in the five years prior to the interview. The objective of the study was to understand the potential impact of the use of graphic narratives on the development of clinical empathy toward future patients and on the awareness of the different perspectives that characterize the illness experience. The thematic analysis of the interviews revealed that graphic tools mainly affected the formation of professional identity, understood as personal and collective identity. The comic strips seem to be useful in developing students’ critical thinking toward their training, the health care system more generally, and in processing the complex emotions associated with the transition to the future professional role.