Here at SHI, we have been actively promoting exchange and collaboration with foreign researchers and institutes in education and research to create innovations in the field of healthcare.

  On Saturday, May 25th, 2024, Dr. Yoo Byung Kwang, a professor at SHI, hosted a participatory workshop for multicultural coexistence with Dr. Jon D. Rossini, an associate professor at the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), as a special lecture.

  Dr. Yoo and Dr. Rossini have co-developed a ‘Health Education Theater’ technique in which they use improvisational theater as a tool and aim to improve problems people encounter in daily life, improve their dialogue skills, and ultimately change their individual behaviors. The workshop was held in the style of this ‘Health Education Theater,’ in which the attendees were to learn how to deal with linguistic and cultural barriers that they may encounter when accessing healthcare services.

  The workshop began with a lecture on the background and purpose of the workshop, followed by groups of four attendees performing a short improvisational play in three minutes on the setting of ‘purchasing medicine at a pharmacy in Japan.’ Afterwards, attendees shared their impressions from the perspectives of a performer as well as the audience.

  Students in attendance gave comments through the workshop that they were able to remember better what they had said by acting it out themselves, and that they understood that effective dialogue can take many forms, each of which can improve the situation.

  We will provide learning opportunities in various forms and promote the development of human resources who will bring about innovation.