Develop standardized, unified narrative medicine curricula to improve study comparability¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 quant-synthesis), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

The authors recommend that future research develop "standardized, unified narrative medicine curricula" to improve study comparability and generalizability, because the included studies employed highly variable narrative medicine practices with different supplementary elements and intervention durations. This strategy addresses the heterogeneity that limited the meta-analysis's pooled estimates.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Curricula should specify core approaches such as literature reading and parallel medical record writing, and whether supplementary simulation elements are included

Constraints¶

• The recommendation arises from heterogeneity the authors could not fully resolve through sensitivity or subgroup analysis; it is a research-design recommendation, not a tested intervention

Target Learners¶

• postgraduate medical residents across specialties

Target Learning Goals¶

• academic performance
• humanistic communication skills

Claims¶

• Certainty of evidence for narrative medicine education effects is rated very low under GRADE [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Report complete statistical data and use standardized success tests to enable future meta-analysis

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Dai Dongjun, Fan Yuzhi, Zhang Wenbao, Wei Qichun. (2026). The effect of narrative medicine-based education on academic performance and humanistic communication in residency training: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-53552-x