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Emotional congruence in learning and health encounters in medicine: addressing an aspect of the hidden curriculum

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Abstract

This paper aims to draw attention to and provide insights into an area that is of educational significance for clinical teachers, namely the need to acknowledge and respond appropriately to the emotional context of both learning and health encounters in order to improve the outcomes of both. This need has been highlighted by recent calls for more attention to be paid to the role of emotion within medical education and within health care provision. What is already known about the role of emotion in learner-teacher encounters and in patient-doctor encounters will be used to develop the concept of emotional congruence within these two types of encounter as a challenge to clinical teachers to examine their own practice. The reasons why emotional congruence is not always apparent in the learning environment of the teaching hospital will be discussed using the model of the ‘hidden curriculum’. It will be suggested that explicit strategies to counteract the hidden curriculum in relation to emotion can bring about transformative change in individual practice and the health care environment that has the potential to improve both learning and health outcomes.

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to acknowledge the support of her doctoral supervisors Mavis Haigh and Marcus Henning; her mentors Bob Arnold, Anthony Back, James Tulsky and Phyllis Butow and fellow learner Jonathan Adler.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand

    Anne O’Callaghan

  2. Palliative Care Service, Auckland City Hospital, Private Bag 92024, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand

    Anne O’Callaghan

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Correspondence to Anne O’Callaghan.

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O’Callaghan, A. Emotional congruence in learning and health encounters in medicine: addressing an aspect of the hidden curriculum. Adv in Health Sci Educ 18, 305–317 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-012-9353-4

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