The Innovative Education of Cross-Disciplinary Integration of Narrative Medicine With Medical Animation: Exploring the Potential of Health Humanities

Health humanities are concerned with exploring the novel concept of integrating the humanities with health-related fields. Traditionally, medicine and healthcare have been primarily focused on a biomedical paradigm, with particular emphasis on the pathological mechanisms and treatment protocols of diseases. However, in recent years, there has been growing recognition that health is a holistic concept influenced not only by biological factors but also by psychological, social, cultural, and other factors, which leads to the emergence of medical humanities. Herein, we constructed a narrative community shared by physicians and patients through the frameworks of phenomenology, social design, and health design. By integrating narrative medicine with medical animation through storytelling and focusing on the feasibility study of an undergraduate course on medical animation, this study synthesizes the conceptual frameworks and methodologies of the humanities with health-related practices, integrating the theories and techniques of narrative medicine with those of medical animation. Through this interdisciplinary approach, we investigated innovative pathways in medical education, attempting to establish new foundations for a more comprehensive understanding and promotion of human health.