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Gesundheit gestalten

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Allgemeinmedizin und Familienmedizin (DEGAM), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sozialmedizin und Prävention (DGSMP), Netzwerk Evidenzbasierte Medizin e.V. (EbM), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Medizinische Soziologie (DGMS)
30.09.2026-02.10.2026
Göttingen

Meeting Abstract

Social medicine and family medicine – why and how should they be integrated in health professionals’ education?

Amand Führer - Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Institut für Allgemeinmedizin, AG Sozialmedizin, Halle, Deutschland
Nadja Kutschke - Charité, Institut für Allgemeinmedizin, Deutschland
Sabine Gehrke-Beck - Charité, Institut für Allgemeinmedizin, Deutschland
Denis Regnier - University of Global Health Equity, School of Global Health, Ruanda
Vincent Cubaka - University of Global Health Equity, Department of Community Health and Social Medicine, Deutschland
Ute Siebert - Charité, Empowerment für Diversität, Deutschland
Thomas Frese - Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Institut für Allgemeinmedizin, Halle, Deutschland

Text

Background: Social medicine and family medicine are historically at the margin of medical curricula, despite their high relevance for every-day clinical care. In addition, both disciplines are currently not well integrated and taught separately, even though they have substantial overlap in their theoretical frameworks, their strive for prevention, and their focus on patient-centered and equity-focused care.

Aim/scientific question: To address these current limitations, this workshop aims to start a conversation between social medicine and family medicine, using teaching as point of contact. Building on the positive experiences at the University for Global Health Equity (UGHE) with integrating social medicine into clinical teaching, the workshop aims to develop strategies for integrating social medicine into teaching family medicine, and vice versa.

Topic for discussion: At the end of the workshop, the participants will have discussed strategies for integrating teaching in social medicine and family medicine using real-life teaching content.

Target audience: This workshop is designed for current and future educators in social medicine, family medicine or other health professions (in initial or continuing education).

Since the organizing team is multilingual, the workshop will be conducted in English with the option for simultaneous translations to German.

Teaching method(s):

  • The workshop will start with a brief presentation that introduces the integration process at UGHE to illustrate how social medicine content can be integrated into teaching clinical subjects. (15 minutes)
  • Participants will then form interdisciplinary teams of one social medicine and one family medicine professional in a variation of the “Headstand Technique”. In this activity, they will challenge each other by exploring areas where social medicine and family medicine have – at first sight – no overlap. (15 minutes)
  • Building on this exercise, participants will then form interdisciplinary discussion groups of 4 to 6 people to discuss how both disciplines can be integrated in teaching. Hereby, they will have the opportunity to work on their existing teaching materials, develop new formats, or explore additional examples. (30 minutes)
  • Lastly, each group presents the key findings of their discussion, summed up by a final discussion. (30 minutes)

Take home message: This will prepare them to revise their own teaching materials. In addition, the workshop will foster communication between social medicine and family medicine that might lead to further cooperation.

Brief introduction to the workshop leader(s):

Amand Führer (Social Medicine Uni Halle): Amand Führer teaches Social Medicine and has a research focus on health equity, care for marginalized groups and social medicine theory.

Nadja Kutschke (Family Medicine Charité): Nadja Kutschke is a physician in training at Charité Berlin whose research focuses on medical education in global and planetary health and on care for marginalized populations such as refugees.

Sabine Gehrke-Beck (Family Medicine Charité): Sabine Gehrke-Beck is a family physician and coordinates family medicine teaching at Charité.

Denis Regnier (University of Global Health Equity, Rwanda): Denis Regnier is Associate Professor in Anthropology in the UGHE School of Global Health, where he teaches Qualitative Research, Medical Anthropology and Social Medicine, Global health equity, Sociology, and Critical Thinking.

Vincent Cubaka (University of Global Health Equity, Rwanda): Vincent Cubaka trained as a family physician and is now the head of the Department of Community Health and Social Medicine at UGHE.

Ute Siebert (Empowerment for Diversity, Charité): Ute Siebert is responsible within the EMPDIV program for teaching formats for the initial, continuing and further training of healthcare professionals in diversity competence and anti-racist attitudes.

Thomas Frese (Family Medicine Uni Halle): Thomas Frese is a general practitioner / family physician and researcher at the University of Halle with a focus on primary care and health services research. He particularly addresses the organization and quality of care in general practice as well as evidence-based decision-making in everyday clinical settings.

Estimated number of participants: 10 – 25

Competing interests: Keine