Representation in medical illustration: the impact of model bias in a dermatology pilot study

TY - JOUR

T1 - Representation in medical illustration

T2 - the impact of model bias in a dermatology pilot study

AU - Ilic, Nicholas

AU - Prescott, Alan

AU - Erolin, Caroline

AU - Peter, Michael

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the US Federal Student Aid Direct Graduate Plus Loan. Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - As greater attention is paid to representation and the 'decolonizing' of education and media, the field of medical illustration must stay current. Multiple previous studies have concluded that the majority of medical textbooks depict primarily 'default' young, white men. Many have expressed that this lack of representation resulted in feelings of alienation; others posited it is a contributing factor for the disparity of care for marginalised groups. This research took arguably the most identifiable feature, skin colour, to explore this disparity - the variation of dermatological symptom expression on melanin-dense skin for four conditions. To evaluate the impact of having a diverse range of models, a study was devised to demonstrate identification rates of melanin-dependent dermatological symptoms in a quantifiable, though non-statistically significant manner. Participants were split into two groups and asked to review four different skin conditions (Group-A receiving illustrations of homogeneous pale skin tones, and Group-B receiving illustrations depicting diverse skin tones) before identifying clinical photographs. While the group with a diverse reference pool performed marginally better overall, they performed better identifying specific conditions in which melanin levels impact the appearance of the condition. This pilot study serves as a strong base for a more developed future study.

AB - As greater attention is paid to representation and the 'decolonizing' of education and media, the field of medical illustration must stay current. Multiple previous studies have concluded that the majority of medical textbooks depict primarily 'default' young, white men. Many have expressed that this lack of representation resulted in feelings of alienation; others posited it is a contributing factor for the disparity of care for marginalised groups. This research took arguably the most identifiable feature, skin colour, to explore this disparity - the variation of dermatological symptom expression on melanin-dense skin for four conditions. To evaluate the impact of having a diverse range of models, a study was devised to demonstrate identification rates of melanin-dependent dermatological symptoms in a quantifiable, though non-statistically significant manner. Participants were split into two groups and asked to review four different skin conditions (Group-A receiving illustrations of homogeneous pale skin tones, and Group-B receiving illustrations depicting diverse skin tones) before identifying clinical photographs. While the group with a diverse reference pool performed marginally better overall, they performed better identifying specific conditions in which melanin levels impact the appearance of the condition. This pilot study serves as a strong base for a more developed future study.

KW - Dermatology

KW - medical illustration

KW - representation

KW - melanin

KW - diversity

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85139377564

U2 - 10.1080/17453054.2022.2086455

DO - 10.1080/17453054.2022.2086455

M3 - Article

C2 - 35913131

SN - 1745-3054

VL - 45

SP - 253

EP - 262

JO - Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine

JF - Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine

IS - 4

ER -