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OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT01739257

Use of Theater to Invoke Empathy and Reduce Bias in Medical Students

The effect of medical humanities on medical student bias and clinical management is unclear. This study characterized medical student attitudes toward obese individuals and whether reading a play employing empathic characters can modulate negative reactions.

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Key information

Conditions

Medical Student Bias

Age range

18 year–99 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

UC Davis School of Medicine

Sacramento, California, 95817, United States

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • medical student at UC Davis, UC Irvine, or Mayo Medical School

Exclusion criteria

  • none

Treatment and study plan

Medical Lecture

Behavioral

Dramatic Reading

Behavioral

Primary outcomes

  1. Explicit fat bias

    Time frame: four months

    Assessment of conscious bias against fat people (unit of measure from 11 to 99).

  2. implicit fat bias

    Time frame: four months

    Measurement using the implicit association test (IAT) with scores from -2.0 to +2.0.

  3. empathy scale

    Time frame: four months

    Score of Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) from 20 to 180.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Patient-Centered Care

    Time frame: four months

    Open-ended question on the clinical management of an asymptomatic, obese, elderly woman who is otherwise healthy, with coding for a response that is either patient-centered (ie: asking patient preferences and goals) or prescriptive (ie: telling the patient to diet and/or exercise).

  2. Appraisal of obesity

    Time frame: four months

    An open-ended question asking participants whether they felt obesity was primarily an issue of discrimination (ie: civil rights) or a public health concern (ie: medical).

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of California, Davis

Other

Collaborators

  • The Arnold P. Gold Foundation

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2012
Primary completion
2012
Study completion
2012
First posted
Dec 3, 2012
Registry last updated
Apr 11, 2023

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.