Creative Practice is another kind of scholarship. It is sometimes referred to as “Research Creation” and, according to the Social Science and Humanities Council of Canada (SSHRC) is defined as “an approach to research that combines creative and academic research practices, and supports the development of knowledge and innovation through artistic expression, scholarly investigation, and experimentation. The creation process is situated within the research activity and produces critically informed work in a variety of media (art forms). Research-creation cannot be limited to the interpretation or analysis of a creator’s work, conventional works of technological development, or work that focuses on the creation of curricula. Fields that may involve research-creation may include, but are not limited to: architecture, design, creative writing, visual arts (e.g., painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, textiles), performing arts (e.g., dance, music, theatre), film, video, performance art, interdisciplinary arts, media and electronic arts, and new artistic practices.
Art and literature are very effective ways to communicate ideas, especially when exploring the cultural, emotional, and spiritual aspects of our human existence. Many residents have developed talents in creative writing, art, music, dance, photography, or drama and some in the past have been able to express ideas related to family medicine through their art.
A resident should provide a manuscript and presentation of their artistic production to explain how it relates to Family Medicine. Artistic and literary productions will be judged with the help of post-secondary Fine Arts Faculty according to standards appropriate to the medium.
*Please Note: For studies that require a format of reporting that is expanded outside of written form (i.e.: visual and/or oral deliveries), early consultation with site Scholar Leads and the Scholarship Committee is required.
Some previous examples of artistic production:
- Visual art, video, or multi-media display: (E.g., quilts expressing the doctor’s experience as patient)
- Performing art: theatre, interpretive movement, musical performance (E.g., a one-person play about a resident’s experience as a patient on a psychiatric ward)
- Creative writing: novella, short story, poetry (E.g., a short story about the immigrant experience in the Canadian health system)
The underlying objective of the UBC Department of Family Practice Resident Project is that each should contribute to the existing knowledge base of Family Medicine; this objective also applies to Medical Humanities Resident Scholar Projects. Medical Humanities projects commonly increase clinician self-understanding and/or understanding about the physician-patient relationship. Questioning is central to creative arts endeavors, just as it is central to clinical research endeavors. Questioning, or the need to understand more fully, or to explain and interpret, or to listen to the underlying narrative or voice, motivates both artist and researcher. A family medicine resident’s questioning regarding a topic relevant to family medicine is a process through which one attains an increased understanding of the topic. This will result in scholarly work, such as quality improvement projects, original clinical research and reflective/creative processes including interdisciplinary medical art projects.
The UBC Department of Family Practice encourages and supports residents who wish to pursue scholarly Medical Humanities Resident Scholar Projects that are relevant to family medicine. Mediums through which this work may take place include photography, painting, sculpture, music, poetry, drama, film, creative writing and others. Physician artists report that their artistic activities sustain and balance their clinical work1. We wish to promote an expanding view of scholarship that is consistent with academic medicine. <ii>You should obtain approval for your project proposal from your site research faculty and your site director before you begin an Interdisciplinary Art Resident Project.
- Doctors Afield. Edited by M McCrea Curnen, H Spiro, D St. James. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-08020-4; ii Beattie DS (ed). Expanding the View of Scholarship. Academic Medicine, Vol. 75, No. 9/Sep 2000
You should include the following considerations in your project proposal for review by your site research faculty and site director:
- You should demonstrate some prior interest/proficiency in your discipline of interest
- You should outline the ethical considerations of your Medical Humanities Resident Project with your Site Research Faculty or the Lead Faculty for Research. If your project involves human participants you will need UBC Behavioural Research Ethics Board Review. (Physician artistic activity can lead to ethical conflicts, such as when the distinction between research, art, and journalism is blurred, or when artistic activity interfaces with patient care.)
- You should have a faculty advisor from your chosen discipline who agrees to advise and mentor you through your project (for example, if you wish to do a music project, your Medical Humanities Resident Project faculty advisor would be from the Faculty of Music at a university or community college.)
- You should demonstrate that the process of completing the Interdisciplinary Art Resident Project will result in your personal growth in (or increased understanding of) the discipline of interest
- You must demonstrate an academic understanding of the integration of the chosen discipline with the discipline of family medicine. Your project proposal must include a scholarly literature review which covers:
- a historical overview, citing past examples of interdisciplinary work.
- an overview of contemporary interdisciplinary work
- an exploration of how your project proposal relates to past and contemporary work, and how it seeks to develop an understanding of the integration between this discipline and family medicine.
- Your proposed project should contribute to the knowledge base of family medicine.
Note: Regarding oral/visual/audio presentation at Resident Scholar Day
The oral/visual/audio presentation of an Interdisciplinary Art Resident Scholar Project may consist solely of the work of art itself, without any explanation or commentary; essentially, your presentation at Resident Scholar Day might be the ‘results’ section of your project. Because the usual 10-minute presentation time-slot at Research Day may be too limiting for you, please discuss with us your time, space and audiovisual needs; we can be flexible. You may also wish to consider providing copies of your written report for your audience, since many of your medical colleagues might be skeptical and biased against the potential role of interdisciplinary art in the development of scholarly medical knowledge.