Peer Reviewed Article Hypothesis , Vol. 35, No. 2, 2023

A Graphic Medicine Reading Experience for Undergraduate

Nursing Students: A Brief Report

Michelle Nielsen Otta

aAssistant Professor, Sciences/Health Sciences Librarian, Cullom-Davis Library,
Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, https://www.orcid.org/0000-0002-2730-2928 ,

mnielsenott@bradley.edu

Health humanities, a growing field combining humanities and health sciences, aids
healthcare students and providers in developing self-reflection, empathy, personal
well-being, communication skills, and observational skills. Developing these skills is
important for students as they form their professional identity. One way to engage in
health humanities and connect with faculty and students is through graphic medicine,
which are illustrated narratives such as comics that involve health topics. As the
science and health science librarian at a comprehensive university, I have been actively
adding graphic medicine titles to the library’s collection which prompted me to
investigate what effect reading a graphic medicine book has on undergraduate nursing
students’ empathy and self-reflection skills.

LGBTQIA-focused efforts on campus and recent political debates about transgender
healthcare informed my selection of the graphic medicine book First Year Out: A
Transition Story by Sabrina Symington for this study. As there is currently no
LGBTQIA-focused nursing course available at Bradley University, liaison contacts
within the nursing department helped me identify the community health practicum
course as a suitable setting with supportive instructors for this study.

Students were assigned to read First Year Out and answer a set of reflection questions
I developed as the investigator. The library purchased an unlimited user copy of the
e-book so students had immediate, no-cost, access to the title.

The course instructors graded the student reflection assignments as complete or
incomplete, and not on the content of the responses, to reduce bias. Students
voluntarily consented for their responses to be included in this study. Faculty members
removed identifying information before sharing the reflection documents.

The student reflections were overwhelmingly positive in response to reading the book. I
was pleasantly surprised since this was an extra assignment compared to previous
iterations of this class. Nursing students carry a very demanding course load and I was
concerned that they might not take this assignment as seriously as their other
assignments, but this was not the case. I was honored to read their carefully crafted
reflections.

Initial findings showed that students related to the book’s main character in a variety
of ways including expressing similar experiences with anxiety and body dysmorphia.

1

https://www.orcid.org/0000-0002-2730-2928
https://orcid.org/
mailto:mnielsenott@bradley.edu


Peer Reviewed Article Hypothesis , Vol. 35, No. 2, 2023

They also recognized shared traits with the main character such as determination and
persistence. Students expressed that the comic format was enjoyable and helped with
their comprehension of the material. Additionally, students found reading this book to
be beneficial for their future as healthcare professionals, especially regarding patient
interactions. Students expressed many empathetic thoughts and feelings as they
practiced self-reflection in this assignment.

Regarding future work, the community health practicum course will continue to include
this reading experience and may add more graphic medicine titles to the course. I plan
to partner with additional faculty members in the undergraduate nursing program and
other health science programs to expand the use of graphic medicine titles in the
curriculum to enhance student learning. The lead classroom faculty member and I will
report more about this study in a forthcoming research article.

2