USF Art in Health Workshop Series Published in Academic Journal

Thursday, March 29, 2018

A journal article on the Art of Attending workshop series by the USF Institute for Research in Art has been published in the March edition of Medical Science Education.

The article, titled The Art of Critical Thinking in Nursing, outlines how the program works to develop critical thinking skills in nursing students through a diverse arts workshop curriculum.

The article explains how the Art of Attending workshop series, a part of the USF Art in Health Program, builds upon existing programs that integrate the humanities with healthcare training. Art of Attending includes not only museum and visual arts analysis, but also visual arts creation, dance and movement, and listening.

The article ends with qualitative results in the form of student testimony. The students reported improved critical thinking, awareness of oneself and others, and relevance to clinical fields and their current studies.

The article is authored by an interdisciplinary team of scholars: Keaton Fletcher, a USF psychology Ph.D student; Wendy Bedwell, USF assistant professor of psychology; Megan Voeller, director of humanities at Thomas Jefferson University and former curator and program director of the Art in Health Program at USF; Dolores Coe, curator of the Art in Health Program; Merry Lynn Morris, assistant director of the USF Dance Program and instructor of dance; Bruce Marsh, professor emeritus at the USF School of Art and Art History; and Cheryl Zambroski, director and associate professor at the USF College of Nursing and director of undergraduate student success.

See the Springer Link research website for more on The Art of Critical Thinking in Nursing.

About Art in Health

Art In Health at USF was established in Fall 2012 as a partnership between the USF Contemporary Art Museum and USF Health to develop arts-based observation training for USF Health graduate students. The program drew inspiration from existing arts-and-medicine initiatives at Harvard University, Yale University, the University of Miami and other institutions and has developed into a multi-modal series that integrates arts-based components in museums, visual studio, movement and listening. The USF Art of Attending Model was initially the subject of a three-year pilot study assessing student outcomes and learning. Assessment and development are ongoing.

Visit USF Art in Health to learn more.