Using a virtue ethics lens to develop a socially accountable community placement programme for medical students
Date
2019
Authors
Mogodi, M.
Kebaetse, M.
Molwantwa, M.
Prozesky, D.
Griffiths, D.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Abstract
Background: Community-based education (CBE) involves educating the head (cognitive), heart (affective), and the
hand (practical) by utilizing tools that enable us to broaden and interrogate our value systems. This article reports
on the use of virtue ethics (VE) theory for understanding the principles that create, maintain and sustain a socially
accountable community placement programme for undergraduate medical students. Our research questions
driving this secondary analysis were; what are the goods which are internal to the successful practice of CBE in
medicine, and what are the virtues that are likely to promote and sustain them?
Methods: We conducted a secondary theoretically informed thematic analysis of the primary data based on
MacIntyre’s virtue ethics theory as the conceptual framework.
Results: Virtue ethics is an ethical approach that emphasizes the role of character and virtue in shaping moral
behavior; when individuals engage in practices (such as CBE), goods internal to those practices (such as a
collaborative attitude) strengthen the practices themselves, but also augment those individuals’ virtues, and that of
their community (such as empathy). We identified several goods that are internal to the practice of CBE and
accompanying virtues as important for the development, implementation and sustainability of a socially
accountable community placement programme. A service-oriented mind-set, a deep understanding of community
needs, a transformed mind, and a collaborative approach emerged as goods internal to the practice of a socially
accountable CBE. The virtues needed to sustain the identified internal goods included empathy and compassion,
connectedness, accountability, engagement [sustained relationship], cooperation, perseverance, and willingness to
be an agent of change.
Conclusion: This study found that MacIntyre’s virtue ethics theory provided a useful theoretical lens for
understanding the principles that create, maintain and sustain CBE practice.
Keywords: Social accountability, Community-based education, Community-engaged medical education,
Community-oriented medical education, Virtue ethics, And community placement
Description
Keywords
Social accountability, Community-based education, Community-engaged medical education, Community-oriented medical education, Virtue ethics, community placement
Citation
Mogodi, M.S., Kebaetse, M.B., Molwantwa, M.C. et al. Using a virtue ethics lens to develop a socially accountable community placement programme for medical students. BMC Med Educ 19, 246 (2019