Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Growing and compelling international evidence shows health humanities (a burgeoning interdisciplinary formulation bringing medical/health sciences into conversation with arts and humanities disciplines like history, creative writing, gender and Indigenous studies, theology, and philosophy) have a proven capacity to: increase critical investigative skill sets; destabilize ingrained biases; advance self-reflection; improve complex diagnostic capabilities; grow moral and ethical proficiencies; build empathy; strengthen and foster and strengthen creative reasoning; combat burnout; promote mindfulness; and intensify compassionate responsiveness. Very little conversation occurs in Canada, however, about the potentials and benefits of Health Humanities in health scholarship, education, or clinical work - especially in Francophone healthcare communities and practices. The Fine Arts of Creating Space in Health Education conference is led by some of Canada's leading Francophone (and Anglophone) health humanities scholars and clinicians. The conference is a unique partnership between Laval University and the Canadian Association for Health Humanities (CAHH) and is in conjunction with the annual meeting of the International Congress on Academic Medicine (ICAM). The 2-day conference (Quebec City, April 11-12, 2023) will bring together diverse health humanities scholars, activists, artists, and clinicians from around the world to: advance interprofessional health education through health humanities; strategize about overcoming barriers to the future/sustainability of health humanities; understand the value of culture to healthcare; and, prioritize ways to extend and further health humanities across Canada for the future of medicine and healthcare. The gathering, with emphasis on inclusion and equity, will be a rich and ground-breaking opportunity for diverse learners and leaders to disseminate, amplify, and extend knowledge in Canada about health humanities and healthcare.