A 12-year comparison of students’ perspectives on diversity at a Jesuit Medical School

dc.creator	Imran Mujawar
dc.creator	Matt Sabatino
dc.creator	Stephen Ray Mitchell
dc.creator	Benjamin Walker
dc.creator	Peggy Weissinger
dc.creator	Michael Plankey
dc.date	2014-02-01T00:00:00Z
dc.date.accessioned	2015-07-20T22:06:24Z
dc.date.available	2015-07-20T22:06:24Z
dc.identifier	1087-2981
dc.identifier	10.3402/meo.v19.23401
dc.identifier	https://doaj.org/article/f96cdc8aeba34b7f8c82406a069b4057
dc.identifier.uri	http://evidence.thinkportal.org/handle/123456789/10483
dc.identifier.uri	https://doaj.org/article/f96cdc8aeba34b7f8c82406a069b4057
dc.description	Background: Many studies have assessed perspectives of medical students toward institutional diversity, but few of them have attempted to map changes in diversity climate over time. Objective: This study aims to investigate changes in diversity climate at a Jesuit medical institution over a 12-year period. Methods: In 1999, 334 medical students completed an anonymous self-administered online survey, and 12 years later, 406 students completed a comparable survey in 2011. Chi-square tests assessed the differences in percent responses to questions of the two surveys, related to three identities: gender, race, and sexual orientation. Results: The 1999 versus 2011 samples were 46% versus 49% female, 61% versus 61% Caucasian, and 41% vs. 39% aged 25 years or older. Findings suggested improvements in medical students’ perceptions surrounding equality ‘in general’ across the three identities (p<0.001); ‘in the practice of medicine’ based on gender (p<0.001), race/ethnicity (p=0.60), and sexual orientation (p=0.43); as well as in the medical school curriculum, including course text content, professor's delivery and student–faculty interaction (p<0.001) across the three identities. There was a statistically significant decrease in experienced or witnessed events related to gender bias (p<0.001) from 1999 to 2011; however, reported events of bias based on race/ethnicity (p=0.69) and sexual orientation (p=0.58) only showed small decreases. Conclusions: It may be postulated that the improvement in students’ self-perceptions of equality and diversity over the past 12 years may have been influenced by a generational acceptance of cultural diversity and, the inclusion of diversity training courses within the medical curriculum. Diversity training related to race and sexual orientation should be expanded, including a follow-up survey to assess the effectiveness of any intervention.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	Co-Action Publishing
dc.relation	http://med-ed-online.net/index.php/meo/article/download/23401/pdf_1
dc.relation	https://doaj.org/toc/1087-2981
dc.rights	CC BY
dc.source	Medical Education Online, Vol 19, Iss 0, Pp 1-6 (2014)
dc.subject	medical students
dc.subject	diversity
dc.subject	curriculum
dc.subject	equality
dc.subject	survey
dc.subject	identity
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Medicine (General)
dc.subject	R5-920
dc.subject	Medicine
dc.subject	R
dc.subject	DOAJ:Medicine (General)
dc.subject	DOAJ:Health Sciences
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Medicine (General)
dc.subject	R5-920
dc.subject	Medicine
dc.subject	R
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Medicine (General)
dc.subject	R5-920
dc.subject	Medicine
dc.subject	R
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Medicine (General)
dc.subject	R5-920
dc.subject	Medicine
dc.subject	R
dc.title	A 12-year comparison of students’ perspectives on diversity at a Jesuit Medical School
dc.type	Article