Journal-based

Exceptionalism at the End of AIDS

HIV/AIDS exceptionalism promoted compassion, garnered funding, built institutions, and shaped regulatory and research agendas under emergency conditions. Globally, however, HIV/AIDS exceptionalism has further fragmented fragile health service delivery systems in vulnerable, marginalized communities and created perverse incentives to influence seropositive…

Is “Undetectable = Untransmissible” Good Public Health Messaging?

This article considers merits and drawbacks of “undetectable = untransmissible” (U = U) messaging in the global HIV response. First, viral suppression might be achieved with effective treatment, but not everyone living with HIV has access to such intervention and…

Activating Empathy Through Art in Cancer Communities

The Aesthetics of Health (AOH) undergraduate visual art studies course at the University of Texas at Austin aimed to enhance art students’ awareness of cancer’s impact not only medically but also socially, emotionally, financially, and spiritually and to examine how…

How an Arts-Based Clinical Skills Set Can Be Assessed During OSCEs

Arts-based activities’ roles in medical education is to challenge students to cultivate clinical skills using ART (aesthetics, reflection, time). ART activities offer opportunities for students to cultivate creative dimensions of their clinical skills and to reflect on their responses to…

How a Medical Orchestra Cultivates Creativity, Joy, Empathy, and Connection

Inspired by research indicating that exposure to humanities correlates with reduced burnout, the Nebraska Medical Orchestra was founded in 2018 as a collaboration between the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska at Omaha School of Music….

Songwriting and Youth Self-Concept

Current literature on the therapeutic outcomes of youth engagement in active music-based interventions is limited in terms of both the number of studies and methodology. This pilot study combined phenomenology and quantitative measures of self-esteem and self-efficacy to explore the…

What Are the Right Tools for Studying Arts in Health Interventions?

The arts can touch places that are difficult to recognize and understand, capture in words, or measure by numbers whether you’re an artist, a patient, or an educator. This ineffability presents a dilemma for practitioners and researchers in arts in…

How Should Surgical Palliative Success Be Defined?

Palliative surgery is often defined as surgical intervention with intent to improve a patient’s quality of life by relieving suffering secondary to symptoms of advanced disease. In the context of shared decision making about palliative surgery intervention, tensions can arise…