Accepted Type
Oral
Code
OE3-1-4
Acceptance Declaration
Accept
Additional Information
I declare I have no actual or potential conflict of interest in relation to this program.
Was this work accepted for CCME 2020?
no
Category
General Call (Workshop, Oral Presentation, Poster Presentation)
Type
Oral
Sub Type
Education Research
Will the presenter be a:
Student
Affiliation
Considered for Poster
yes
Title
"COVID-19 as the equalizer": Evolving discourses of COVID-19 and implications for medical education
Length of Presentation
Background/Purpose
The othering of individuals has been identified as a concern during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to examine the popular press during early stages of the pandemic for: 1) emerging discourses that highlighted population-level inequities, and 2) the implications these discourses may have for medical education.
Methods
Using a critical discourse analysis (CDA) approach, an archive of public domain texts discussing COVID-19 was iteratively created, reviewed, and coded. It was analyzed for patterns of how COVID-19 highlighted structural and institutional inequity at the population level using an intersectional framework.
Results
We archived 86 texts published from March to June 2020. We focused our analysis on implications within Ontario. The two major discourses that emerged were "COVID-19 as equalizer" and "COVID-19 as discriminator". The former emerged in the early stages of the pandemic to mobilize public health recommendations and describe near-universal impacts on the public. The latter followed to highlight new and pre-existing forms of marginalization exacerbated by the pandemic in an attempt to motivate an equity-informed pandemic response.
Conclusion
There will never be another generation of medical learners that is not aware of COVID-19 and the ways in which it challenged our medical system. This study provides a unique perspective on how COVID-19 is understood through analysis of the public domain, and therefore, has implications for how the pandemic is framed for future medical learners. We hope that making visible how othering and stigmatization has been exacerbated by COVID-19 motivates equity-informed pandemic education.
Keyword 1
health equity
Keyword 2
COVID-19
Keyword 3
qualitative
Level of Training
Undergraduate
Abstract Themes
Teaching and learning
Teaching and Learning
- Diversity
- Health and Well-being
- Inclusive education
Additional Theme (First choice)
Additional Theme (Second Choice)
Additional Theme (Third Choice)
Authors
Presenter
Vincent Tang
Term 1
Yes
Term 2
Yes
Term 3
Yes
Term 4
Yes
Term 5
Yes
