Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Psychiatr Prax 2021 Mar 2;48(S 01):S51-S57. Epub 2021 Mar 2.

Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Klinikum Magdeburg gemeinnützige GmbH.

The structure of relationships in the past, the present and the future is shaped by the idea of humanism. Based on this construct, the article illuminates various aspects and configurations of humanism on a timeline from "here and now" to "there and then". The current reality of care goes hand in hand with an emotional alienation of relationships. Read More

Health Soc Care Community 2021 Feb 26. Epub 2021 Feb 26.

Department Humanism & Social Resilience, University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Many interventions to combat the social isolation of older adults are hardly effective because they ignore both the heterogeneity of the target group and the uniqueness of the individual experiences of social isolation. In order to be effective, interventions must meet the individual needs of specific clients. In this study, we aim to gain insight into the process in which professionals seek to understand how clients assess their situation, and what this means for the help they provide. Read More

Crit Care Explor 2021 Jan 8;3(1):e0322. Epub 2021 Jan 8.

Division of General Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.

Caring for the critically ill is a humanistic endeavor that requires thoughtful collaboration by a multidisciplinary team. In recent times, patient care in ICUs has become more complex with technological advances in monitoring, diagnostic testing, and therapeutics; many of these advances have translated into improved patient outcomes. In this increasingly complicated system, local culture and goals for the unit can also be overwhelmed by the impersonal and overarching institutional objectives. Read More

Age Ageing 2021 01;50(1):11-15

Department of Geriatric Medicine, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, mounting demand overwhelmed critical care surge capacities, triggering implementation of triage protocols to determine ventilator allocation. Relying on triage scores to ration care, while relieving clinicians from making morally distressing decisions under high situational pressure, distracts clinicians from what is essentially deeply humanistic issues entrenched in this protracted public health crisis. Such an approach will become increasingly untenable as countries flatten their epidemic curves. Read More

Cult Health Sex 2021 Apr 16;23(4):441-456. Epub 2020 Sep 16.

Institute for Sex Research, Sexual Medicine and Forensic Psychiatry, The University Clinic Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.

In the past several decades, conflicting discourses have coexisted in the field of intersex studies, including the pathologising discourse of the biomedical disciplines and the affirmative, subjective psychosocial discourse of people born with intersex bodies and their advocates. Intersex activists call for a positive discourse on intersex bodies and a humanistic healthcare approach that accepts and protects intersex bodily autonomy to replace continuing harmful, traumatic treatments aimed at normalising variations of sex characteristics (VSC). Our awareness of the biomedical discursive dominance prompted us to initiate , an intercultural German-Israeli action research project. Read More

BMJ Support Palliat Care 2020 Sep 14. Epub 2020 Sep 14.

Department of General Practice, Center of Expertise Palliative Care Utrecht, Julius Center for Healthcare Sciences and Primary Care, Universitair Medisch Centrum Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Background: Patients receiving palliative care may benefit greatly when their existential or spiritual strengths are fostered. To date however, there has not been a comprehensive literature review of patient and care professional approaches that are available.

Aims: To describe and synthesise existential or spiritual strength-based approaches within the context of palliative care. Read More

J Manag Care Spec Pharm 2020 Sep;26(9):1057-1066

Director of Retail Operations, Fairview Pharmacy Services, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Background: Medication therapy management (MTM) was officially recognized by the federal government in the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, which requires Medicare Part D plans that offer prescription drug coverage to establish MTM programs (MTMPs) for eligible beneficiaries. Even though the term "MTM" was first used in 2003, pharmacists have provided similar services since the term "pharmaceutical care" was introduced in 1990. Fairview Health Services, a large integrated health care system, implemented a standardized pharmaceutical care service system in 1998, naming it a pharmaceutical care-based MTM practice in 2006. Read More

Med Teach 2020 12 26;42(12):1362-1368. Epub 2020 Aug 26.

Department of Surgery, Division of General Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Background: Involving patients in medical education as teachers is not a novel approach, yet it has not been widely adopted by undergraduate surgical curricula in Canada. The Patients as Teachers initiative in surgery (PAT) program, with an arts-based reflection assignment, was developed for surgical clerks with the goals of emphasizing patient-centredness in surgical practice, humanistic aspects of medicine, and to counterbalance the commonplace emphasis on technical competency in surgery.

Methods: Qualitative data was collected exploring the question: What was the experience and impact of the PAT program on patient teachers and students? Patient teachers ( = 5) were invited to participate in one-on-one interviews and students ( = 46) were invited to participate in focus groups at the end of the program. Read More

J Int Med Res 2020 May;48(5):300060520920052

Department of Medical Service, Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University, Chongqing, China.

Objective: We aimed to explore differences in the educational impact of the mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercise (mini-CEX) on resident (RE) and professional degree postgraduate (PDPG) trainees, as well as influencing factors, to provide suggestions for hospital managers, trainers, and trainees.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of all scores among first-year resident standardization training trainees registered during 2017 to 2019 at Xinqiao Hospital of Army Medical University, to identify differences in mini-CEX outcomes between REs and PDPGs.

Results: We collected data of 154 registered trainees for retrospective analysis, including 57 PDPG trainees and 97 RE trainees. Read More

Glob Public Health 2020 09 22;15(9):1292-1307. Epub 2020 Apr 22.

Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.

Medical practice has changed profoundly over the past 60 years. Many changes have also been made in medical education, often with a view to countering adverse aspects of highly specialised, commercialised and bureaucratised modern medical practice. Regardless of the state of the world today and of the variety of changes that may occur in the years ahead, excellence in the application of bedside skills and technological advances, accompanied by excellence in humanistic aspects of caring for will remain preeminent goals at the heart of medical practice. Read More

Health (London) 2020 Mar 19:1363459320912837. Epub 2020 Mar 19.

City, University of London, UK.

This article focuses on the ways in which members of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous construct themselves as being in recovery from addiction. In this original study, data were taken from 19 participants. They were analysed using Willig's six-stage Foucauldian discourse analytic method. Read More

J Clin Psychol 2020 07 11;76(7):1217-1225. Epub 2020 Jan 11.

Department of Psychology, California State University, Long Beach, California.

Objective: This case study describes one client's progression through goal-focused positive psychotherapy (GFPP), a positive psychology inspired treatment. The study aims to contribute a more nuanced understanding of GFPP by illustrating the clinical use of approach goals, hope, positive emotion, and client strengths-interventions that constitute the heart of GFPP.

Method: The case study methodology illuminates the 33-session treatment of a self-identified European-American heterosexual female in her mid-twenties, presenting with several interpersonal concerns, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Read More

Acad Med 2020 03;95(3):333-335

R.M. Schwartzstein is professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.

An excellent physician has a range of talents, including the knowledge and critical thinking abilities to work with the rapidly changing biomedical and social science content of the profession as well as the interpersonal and communication skills to build meaningful relationships with patients and families. The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) was revised in 2015 to focus more on analytical reasoning skills and behavioral and social sciences knowledge to ensure that future physicians have the capabilities needed to care for patients in the 21st century and to allow admissions committees to identify applicants who have demonstrated proficiency in these areas. With these changes, scores continue to be predictive of student performance in the preclerkship curriculum. Read More

J Med Internet Res 2019 11 22;21(11):e14285. Epub 2019 Nov 22.

Evidera, London, United Kingdom.

Background: Until recently, treatment options were limited for patients with acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome (AML and MDS) who are ineligible for intensive chemotherapy. Owing to the condition's rapid progression, it is difficult to identify what is most important to patients when making treatment decisions. Patients' needs can be better addressed by gaining a deeper understanding of their perspectives, which is valuable in the decision-making process. Read More

Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med 2020 11 2;10(11). Epub 2020 Nov 2.

Swedish Cancer Institute, Swedish Medical Center, Seattle, Washington 98104, USA.

Humanism is a philosophy that emphasizes rational, scientific, and empiric analysis of the world we live in to improve the physical, social, and psychological life of humanity. Although individual genetic counselors may or may not identify as humanists, genetic counseling and genetic testing are primarily humanistic endeavors because they are situated in the context of humanistic medicine in the westernized world. Humanistic goals are also implicit and explicit in the profession and practice of genetic counselors. Read More

Cardiovasc Res 2020 01;116(1):12-27

Service des soins palliatifs Lausanne University Hospital, CHUV, Centre hospitalier univeritaire vaudois, Lausanne Switzerland.

Contrary to common perception, modern palliative care (PC) is applicable to all people with an incurable disease, not only cancer. PC is appropriate at every stage of disease progression, when PC needs emerge. These needs can be of physical, emotional, social, or spiritual nature. Read More

PLoS One 2019 1;14(8):e0220116. Epub 2019 Aug 1.

Emeritus Professor, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.

Background: Primary health professionals are well positioned to support the delivery of patient self-management in an evidence-based, structured capacity. A need exists to better understand the active components required for effective self-management support, how these might be delivered within primary care, and the training and system changes that would subsequently be needed.

Objectives: (1) To examine self-management support interventions in primary care on health outcomes for a wide range of diseases compared to usual standard of care; and (2) To identify the effective strategies that facilitate positive clinical and humanistic outcomes in this setting. Read More

Personal Ment Health 2019 08 3;13(3):144-154. Epub 2019 May 3.

Department of Human Chaplaincy Studies for a Plural Society, University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Meaning in life is a motivational force and an existential theme for many people. The concept of meaning comprises purpose, comprehension and mattering. According to the Section III model of personality disorder (DSM-5), lack of meaning, purpose and direction in life is part of personality dysfunction. Read More

Yearb Med Inform 2019 Aug 25;28(1):249-256. Epub 2019 Apr 25.

Department of Computer Science, Rutgers University, USA.

Background: The rise of biomedical expert heuristic knowledge-based approaches for computational modeling and problem solving, for scientific inquiry and medical decision-making, and for consultation in the 1970's led to a major change in the paradigm that affected all of artificial intelligence (AI) research. Since then, AI has evolved, surviving several "winters", as it has oscillated between relying on expensive and hard-to-validate knowledge-based approaches, and the alternative of using machine learning methods for inferring classification rules from labelled datasets. In the past couple of decades, we are seeing a gradual but progressive intertwining of the two. Read More

Disabil Rehabil 2020 06 23;42(11):1511-1517. Epub 2019 Apr 23.

Department of Psychiatry, Brigham And Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

With disabled patients, clinicians are often mechanistically oriented, limiting goals to bodily improvements of perceived deficits back to species-typical functioning. Psychological goals, when present at all, are often pessimistically narrow, or phenomenologically shallow. Recent research on fourth wave psychotherapies helps broaden clinical concepts of healing and treatment beyond mere deficit remediation, and helps match clinical goals with the richness of human flourishing and the layered complexity of the patient's evolving experience of meaning. Read More

Orphanet J Rare Dis 2019 02 28;14(1):53. Epub 2019 Feb 28.

Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, 85 Park Road, Grafton, Auckland, 1023, New Zealand.

Medical students automatically couple rare illnesses with biomedical minutiae. Upon meeting CS (pseudonym), a 5-year-old boy with Worster Drought Syndrome, I became inadvertently caught in the trap of focusing on his diagnosis rather than CS as a patient. I fumbled around CS's past medical history by fervently asking about all the different types of seizures he was plagued by. Read More

Fam Process 2020 06 7;59(2):346-360. Epub 2019 Jan 7.

University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, Netherlands.

This article presents a model for conducting contextual therapy with the aim of contributing to the further development of contextual therapy. Its founder, Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy, introduced the core of this approach, relational ethics, as a new paradigm for family therapy, which has been received well. The authors presume that the training of (upcoming) contextual therapists and conducting contextual therapy itself can benefit from more concrete guidelines and a phased structure. Read More

Eur J Psychol 2018 Jun 19;14(2):444-463. Epub 2018 Jun 19.

Department of Humanistic Studies, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy.

Metacognitive skills and agency are among the main psychological abilities a clinical psychologist should have. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of group psychodynamic counselling as a clinical training device able to enhance metacognitive skills and agency in final-year undergraduates in clinical psychology within an educational context. Thirty-three final-year students of clinical psychology participated in an experiential laboratory lasting two months. Read More

Acta Med Acad 2018 May;47(1):61-75

Catholic University of Croatia, Zagreb, Croatia.

The aim of the study was to present the concept on which the School of Medicine at the Catholic University of Croatia (CUC) will be established. The new School will alleviate the shortage of physicians in Croatia and introduce an innovative form of medical education focused on principles of patient-centered care and social accountability. At the same time, the students will acquire all relevant competencies and levels of knowledge, skills and attitudes that are required by current evidence in medical education, European standards and guidelines for quality assurance at higher education institutions. Read More

Complement Ther Clin Pract 2018 May 7;31:325-331. Epub 2018 Apr 7.

School of Biomedical Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW 2795, Australia. Electronic address:

Massage therapy (MT) is the most popular complementary and alternative medicine therapy used by the Australian public. With the growing emphasis by the Australian health authority on evidence-informed healthcare decision-making, there is an increasing demand for massage therapists to move towards the evidence-informed practice (EIP). With MT research gaining significant attention over the last 30 years, clinical evidence exists to support the efficacies of MT on many health conditions, including chronic low back pain. Read More

Am J Community Psychol 2018 06 14;61(3-4):421-432. Epub 2018 Mar 14.

Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Permanent supportive housing (PSH) is a widely-accepted solution to the challenge of chronic homelessness. While housing support and retention, physical health, and healthcare continue to be important for formerly homeless persons in PSH, "higher-order" and humanistic needs such as thriving have received less attention and as a result are less well understood in this population. One important indicator of thriving is the ability to establish and articulate life goals. Read More

Trials 2018 Mar 9;19(1):175. Epub 2018 Mar 9.

Formerly the National Children's Bureau, Research and Policy, 8 Wakley Street, London, EC1V 7QE, UK.

Background: One in ten children in Britain have been identified as experiencing a diagnosable mental health disorder. School-based humanistic counselling (SBHC) may help young people identify, address, and overcome psychological distress. Data from four pilot trials suggest that SBHC may be clinically effective. Read More

Psychiatriki 2017 Jul-Sep;28(3):119-202

Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry-King's College, London, UK.

Psychiatry and society are interrelated and the biopsychosocial model continues to dominate the clinical psychiatric practice. Some doubts have been expressed in recent years about the value and the wide acceptance of the biopsychosocial model. Ghaemi (2009)1 considers it to be anti-humanistic and advocates the use of less eclectic, less generic, and less vague alternatives. Read More

Acad Med 2018 06;93(6):843-849

J.D. Gonzalo is associate professor of medicine and public health sciences and associate dean for health systems education, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania; ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1253-2963. K.J. Caverzagie is associate dean for educational strategy, University of Nebraska College of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska; ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8363-8111. R.E. Hawkins is vice president, Medical Education Outcomes, American Medical Association, Chicago, Illinois. L. Lawson is assistant dean for curriculum, assessment, and clinical academic affairs and associate professor of emergency medicine, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina. D.R. Wolpaw is professor of medicine and humanities and vice chair for educational affairs, Department of Medicine, and director, Kienle Center for Humanistic Medicine, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania; ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7567-2034. A. Chang is professor of medicine and Gold-Headed Cane Endowed Education Chair in Internal Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, San Francisco, California.

With the aim of improving the health of individuals and populations, medical schools are transforming curricula to ensure physician competence encompasses health systems science (HSS), which includes population health, health policy, high-value care, interprofessional teamwork, leadership, quality improvement, and patient safety. Large-scale, meaningful integration remains limited, however, and a major challenge in HSS curricular transformation efforts relates to the receptivity and engagement of students, educators, clinicians, scientists, and health system leaders. The authors identify several widely perceived challenges to integrating HSS into medical school curricula, respond to each concern, and provide potential strategies to address these concerns, based on their experiences designing and integrating HSS curricula. Read More

Psychiatr Danub 2017 Sep;29(3):238-244

University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Department of Psychiatry, Kišpatićeva 12, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia,

Psychiatry has increasingly devoted its attention to the role of religion and spirituality in mental health and illness. All religions offer explanations for meaning and purpose of life, involving rationales for the reality of human suffering and traumas related to natural disasters, war, civil violence, torture, etc. In many countries different religious organizations have funded and operated mental health services as well as supported better understanding, empathy and compassion among cultures. Read More