Integrating social class and privilege in the community medicine curriculum.

Social class and privilege are hidden variables that impact the physician-patient relationship and health outcomes. This article presents a sample of activities from three programs utilized in the community health curriculum to teach resident physicians about patients within context, including how social class and privilege impact physician-patient relationships and patient health. These activities address resident physicians' resistance to discussion of privilege, social class, and race by emphasizing direct experience and active learning rather than traditional didactic sessions. The group format of these activities fosters flexible discussion and personal engagement that provide opportunities for reflection. Each activity affords opportunities to develop a vocabulary for discussing social class and privilege with compassion and to adopt therapeutic approaches that are more likely to meet patients where they are.