In the first of two blog posts, Catherine Kelsey opens up a discourse about the challenges that surround the nursing profession in understanding not only what it means to experience illness, but also the importance of developing a truly humanistic approach to nursing care. As nurses we must not lose sight of the patient as a […]
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International Health Humanities Conference
The 7th International Health Humanities conference, ‘Changing Society: Community Wellbeing and Transformation, How Health Humanities Can Change the World’ is about to close the doors to abstracts for this year’s conference in the cruise ship capital of Europe – Southampton, UK. This year’s conference will be held on 2nd-4th August 2018 and is hosted by […]
Workshop on Narrative Cardiology
In Bristol on the 20th of July, this workshop will explore important crossovers between principles of narrative medicine and the stories of cardiopathic patients, young people born with congenital heart disease, and patients undergoing heart transplantation. In the morning session, patients, healthcare professionals, and academics will provide an introduction to narrative practice in cardiology by […]
Child Pain, Migraine, and Invisible Disability
Honeyman, Susan, E. (2017) Child Pain, Migraine, and Invisible Disability. Abingdon: Routledge. 208 pages, 15 B/W Illus, with appendix. GBP £110.00. Reviewed by Dr Kimm Curran, University of Glasgow Child Pain, Migraine, and Invisible Disability is a look into how invisible disability in children, especially related to chronic pain and migraine, has been treated in […]
Sometimes Dreams May Come True
On Body and Soul (2017), Hungary, directed by Ildikò Enyedi. Reviewed by Dr Franco Ferrarini Whereas defining ‘Body’ should be straightforward, the same literal approach may not apply to defining ‘Soul’. Soul may be defined in strictly religious terms (i.e. an immaterial entity, considered immortal by some creeds, which leaves the body at death) or as […]
Where the Doctor-Patient Relationship is Heading: Literary Perspectives
The author of today’s guest blog post is Dr. Anna Magdalena Elsner, a Swiss National Science Foundation Marie Heim-Vögtlin Research Fellow working at the Center for Medical Humanities at the University of Zurich. Her current project is entitled ‘Palliative Pages’. Focusing on the history of modern palliative care in France as well as French end-of-life […]
Talk to Her: Arab Women Unveil Taboos
In this podcast, three film industry women talk mental health and violence with our film and media correspondent, Khalid Ali. ‘Mamsous: Deranged’ is a short film about mental health and wellbeing through the story of three people, who share their experiences with clinical depression and panic attacks. It was directed by Shatha Masoud, an Emarati […]
The Healing Power of Narratives and Social Support
Gulraj Grewal grew up in Kenya then went on to complete university at University College London (UCL). She completed an undergraduate degree in Immunology and Infection and then pursued an MSc in Global Health and Development, where she discovered her love of qualitative research. She undertook a qualitative project for her Masters and is currently […]
Talk to Her: Deconstructing Taboos in Arab cinema
Egyptian pioneer film director Enas El-Dighade in conversation with Medical Humanities film and media correspondent, Khalid Ali 2017 was a significant year for women worldwide. The #MeToo and #Timesup campaigns caught international media attention by emphatically stating that injustice and discrimination against women can no longer be met with a blind eye. Women who publicly spoke about […]
Catherine Oakley on Cultural Materialism in the Medical Humanities
Catherine Oakley’s article ‘Towards Cultural Materialism in the Medical Humanities: the Case of Blood Rejuvenation’ is available through open access in the current issue of Medical Humanities. Oakley takes the shifting cultural, symbolic and scientific meanings of blood as her starting point, a shift that is, she argues, often understood as a consequence of changes to […]