Phenomenological explanation of an experiential curriculum in medical education: A feministic approach

Introduction: This study addresses the design and validation of the experiential curriculum model for medical education using a Feministic approach. Method: The present study was conducted on two non separable planes. On the first plan, the model was designed based on the Feministic approach using the theoretical study method and emphasizing the perspec- tives ascribed to Nell Noddings, Madeline Grumet and Janette Miller. Results: The levels of this model include Expected Curriculum, Imaginal Curriculum, Concealed curriculum, Interac- tive curriculum (Manifest Curriculum, Latent Curriculum, Look the parenting), Transferential Curriculum and Self Determination. On the second plane, to validate the combined model, a phenomenologically qualitative study was conducted. In this study, using goal-oriented sam- pling, undergraduate and graduate (Master’s degree) students majoring in Dentistry, Nursing at Islamic Azad University Khorasgan Branch, Esfahan as well as those at at Esfahan University of Medical Sciences were selected. Deep interview was used to collect data. The findings were analyzed using Van Manen’s six-stage model. To determine the reliability of the findings, reli- ability of reality reconstruction were used. Conclusion: The results obtained suggested that: Education is in need of some conceptual reconstruction. On this way, women’s perceptions and experience of education and of the interior epistemological and curricular system which shape the discourse and performance of education must be addressed. Serving as a research model offering the various planes of the experiential curriculum and focusing more sharply on the dimensions of curriculum than the formal plane, the present study is recommended to the decision-makers of higher education curricular system.