Integrating the gender perspective into literature studies to enhance medical university students’ gender awareness and critical thinking

Abstract

Objective: This study attempted to integrate the gender perspective into literature studies to allow medical university students to examine internalized gender prescriptions and investigate whether the integration of the gender perspective into literature studies would create any difference among students in gender awareness and critical thinking. Methods: This study used fifteen-week quasi-experimental research to verify the feasibility of using the gender perspective in literature studies to arouse medical university students’ gender awareness and critical thinking. Before and after the intervention, a gender awareness test and a critical thinking disposition test were carried out by both the experimental group (41 students) and control group (41 students). Results: The findings show that regarding gender awareness, with the integration of the gender perspective into literature studies, medical university students had significantly higher post-test scores for “public gender consciousness” and “private gender consciousness.” In regard to critical thinking, they also had significantly better post-test scores in “systematicity and analyticity,” “maturity and skepticism,” and “inquisitiveness and conversance.” Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the integration of the gender perspective into literature studies could result in positive learning outcomes among medical university students in terms of gender awareness and critical thinking.