Learning about personally relevant topics in health professional education
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21556486 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Emma Osborne (0000-0001-6339-2433, University of Otago, corresponding author), Victoria Anderson (0000-0002-2055-8998, University of Otago), Bridget Robson (0000-0003-3964-9408, University of Otago) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 403-417 |
| Publication date | 2026-02-17 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Higher Education Research & Development (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0729-4360 • E-ISSN: 1469-8366 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/07294360.2026.2617279 |
| OpenAlex | W7137849468 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 23 |
Higher education curricula that explore aspects of human experience may overlap with students’ own lives. However, the experience of learning about personally relevant material is not well understood. This paper draws on interviews with 22 health professional students and graduates whose study significantly overlapped with their own lives. Participants described curriculum content which resonated with experiences including personal or family illness, bereavement, interacting with the health system, traumatic events, or learning about one’s own community. Learning about personally relevant topics could be deeply embodied, often in settings where seemingly dis-embodied ‘neutrality’ was expected. Personally relevant learning could also be engaging, particularly when content was taught with respect and when students could see how such material made a real-world difference. Conversely, teaching on personally relevant topics could be alienating when it simplified complex experiences, involved racism from peers or teachers, or marginalised lived experience as a source of legitimate knowledge. Our findings highlight the importance of recognising that any aspect of curricula which explore human experience may overlap with students’ lives. We offer suggestions for teaching practices which affirm the complexity of lived experience and communicate care. Our study contributes to a re-thinking of higher education teaching and learning as embodied practices
Continuing professional development · Experiential learning · Health professionals · Higher education · Professional development · Professional learning community · Professional studies · Qualitative research · Innovations in Medical Education · Problem and Project Based Learning · Public Health Policies and Education
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| Highly cited | No |
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