The personal responses tour uses art as a “reflective trigger” to “promote individual reflection, foster empathy, increase appreciation for the psychosocial context of patient experience, and create a safe haven for learners to deepen their relationships with one another” (2). Learners are given a prompt design to evoke an emotional response and connection to a work of art. Examples of prompts include, “Focus on a memorable patient, and find a work of art that person would find meaningful or powerful,” “Find an image that represents a recent joy or struggle in your life,” or “Find an image of a person with whom you have difficulty empathizing.” Depending on the prompts that you select for your learners, we find that the conversation can be either relatively lighthearted or bright (for example, finding an image that brings you joy) to a more reflective conversation about struggles we have when trying to connect to patients with whom we find “challenging” to empathize. We also find this exercise to be especially adaptable to online learning (see “adapt for online teaching” tab below).
Examples from personal response tours at Emory:
Back-to-back drawing
In this exercise, learners work on listening and observation skills, interpersonal communication, and dealing with uncertainty. Learns sit back-to-back with one learner describing a work of art in words while the other learner interprets and draws what they hear. This exercise can be done with a group watching the process and taking notes on what is said and what is drawn. It can also be done without a group watching. We often do this exercise with a group watching a dyad after which pairs break off and select a work of art for the exercise. We often use this exercise in the setting of a longer course as a more fun activity to highlight the art of communication, especially if the other exercises involve heavier and more metacognitive processes.
Examples from back-to-back exercises at Emory:
