Virtual Summer Undergraduate Mentorship Program for Students Underrepresented in Medicine Yields Significant Increases in Self-Efficacy Measurements During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed Methods Evaluation

Abstract

Purpose: The barriers that Black and Hispanic/Latinx students underrepresented in medicine (URiM) face while seeking biomedical careers have been identified, including lack of career preparation and social support. Yet it is unclear how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their decisions and progress toward their occupational goals. Methods: Adapting to the precautions necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors conducted a mixed-methods evaluation of our 2020 virtual summer URiM biomedical mentoring program, using both quantitative and qualitative pre-and post-program questionnaires to measure the students' perceptions of their preparation and self-efficacy for applying to health professional schools. Results: Themes were extracted from qualitative data through thematic analysis. When students were asked how the COVID-19 pandemic affected them, two themes and subthemes emerged: (1) loss of supportive environment, (1.1) challenging learning environment, (2) derailed or uncertain future, and (2.2) COVID-19 hitting home. When students were surveyed about their online experience at the end of the program, the themes (3) supportive community and (4) inspired and reinforced goals appeared. In addition, quantitative data examined through statistical analysis revealed that the students' career self-efficacy improved significantly after program participation. Conclusion: Our results indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic has further challenged URiM students with preexisting career obstacles. The outcomes also demonstrate that it is possible to virtually provide URiM students with socioemotional support and increase their career self-efficacy. Overall, frequent evaluations are encouraged to better understand the dynamic challenges of URiM students, improve the design of health career ''pipeline'' programs, and diversify the physician workforce to address racial health inequities.

A low‐cost cure for CUREs: An undergraduate microbiology course engaging students in authentic research using publicly available datasets

“…Selective research programs often give preference to students with prior research experience, which can serve as a disadvantage to students for whom it may be particularly challenging to get their first research experience 1 . This includes students from historically marginalized communities and/or first‐generation college students who may not have connections to scientists in their personal or professional networks 29 . Course registration as a mechanism to access undergraduate research opportunities can be more accessible than reaching out to individual faculty members asking if positions are available in their labs, a process which can be intimidating or discouraging to students 8 .…”

“…1 This includes students from historically marginalized communities and/or first-generation college students who may not have connections to scientists in their personal or professional networks. 29 registration as a mechanism to access undergraduate research opportunities can be more accessible than reaching out to individual faculty members asking if positions are available in their labs, a process which can be intimidating or discouraging to students. 8 Receiving credits for a course also means that the research experience contributes to the credits students need for graduation, instead of the research experience being added on top of a full course-load.…”

Creation of a Novel Biomedical Engineering Research Course for Incarcerated Students

“…Such work identifies “lessons-learned” and important considerations for providing effective and equitable mentorship and these guidelines will be implemented in this course moving forward. 30 , 44 , 45 …”

“…Such work identifies ''lessonslearned'' and important considerations for providing effective and equitable mentorship and these guidelines will be implemented in this course moving forward. 30,44,45 During unpredictable times, it can also be even more critical to scaffold the learning experiences and create consistency. We felt that the module design allowed us to provide our students with an experience in which the activities were clearly laid out and through which we were able to model research skills.…”

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Barriers Faced by Medical College Admission Test Examinees and Their Association With Medical School Application and Matriculation

“…Explicit and implicit policies, such as residential redlining, school segregation, and mass incarceration, have disproportionately affected American Indian, Alaska Native, Black, and Hispanic communities. 13 , 14 , 15 As Nguemeni Tiako et al 16 and others 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 have written, this structural racism leads to several barriers for groups underrepresented in medicine, including differences in parental educational level and resources and differences in the networks and informal knowledge required to, among other things, secure clinical shadowing and other extracurricular educational opportunities valued in the medical school application process. Interpersonal discrimination creates yet another barrier whose influence can occur anywhere along the process.…”