Research Guides: Inclusive Excellence in Teaching and Learning: Medicine

Title: Western Medicine Meets Minority Culture: Female Genital Cutting [Small Group Facilitator Guide]

Contributor: Anna-leila Williams

Learning Objectives: Practicing Cultural Humility

Type of Educational Materials: Group Collaboration

Assessment: Peer-Reviewed, Evidence-Based

Assessment Methodology: Pre-event and post-event surveys were given to 190 second-year medical students (94 students in 2021 and 96 students in 2022). The change in pre- to post-event survey responses indicate the educational event contributed to increased understanding of female genital cutting and greater appreciation for the cultural paradigm in which female genital cutting occurs. 81.4% of students felt the session would contribute to patient care they provide in the future.

This resource is made available under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0 Deed. You may share and adapt this work for non-commercial use, provided you give credit to the author and indicate if changes were made.

Western Medicine Meets Minority Culture: Female Genital Cutting [Small Group Facilitator Guide]
Sensitive topics can make even the most skilled educators uncomfortable when facilitating a discussion among students. Our natural instinct is to avoid such topics; however, medical students must be exposed to and wrestle with a plethora of sensitive topics in order to function effectively as future physicians. Ideally, medical students learn about sensitive topics in a safe educational environment and in a purposeful and engaging way.

Discussing sensitive topics in medical school provides students the opportunity to explore their reactions and biases in a low-stakes, non-judgmental environment without the time constraints and competing demands of patient care. Using patient narratives that address sensitive topics, such as female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), may help students grasp the nuances of such clinical issues. The aim is to equip medical students with tools to view a clinical issue from multiple vantage points and to heighten awareness of personal filters and biases that might interfere with one’s ability to relate to patients, as well as distort one’s clinical judgment.

The diversity of thought and perspective that is often available within a heterogenous student group can be an educational asset that has the potential to propel students and facilitators to new levels of insight and understanding.4 In addition, the small group seminar format, such as that used in narrative medicine (8:1 faculty to student ratio), allows for investigation of similarities and differences among students, clinicians, and patients, thereby unifying us on the common ground of human suffering and the desire to lessen it.