Department of Native Hawaiian Health, University of Hawai'i, John A. Burns School of Medicine, 677 Ala Moana Blvd., Ste. 1016B, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA.
Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, University of Hawai'i, John A. Burns School of Medicine, 651 Ilalo St. Medical Education Bldg., Ste 411, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA.
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2022 Dec;9(6):2395-2403. doi: 10.1007/s40615-021-01176-4. Epub 2022 Jan 1.
Pacific Islanders living in Hawai'i with ancestral ties to islands in the western Pacific region of Micronesia are common targets of uninhibited forms of prejudice in multiple sectors, including healthcare. Whether the explicit societal-level attitudes toward this group are reflected in implicit attitudes among healthcare providers is unknown; therefore, we designed a pilot study to investigate this question. Our study measures implicit racial bias toward Pacific Islanders from Micronesia among Obstetrician-Gynecologists (OB-GYNs) in Hawai'i.
We developed 4 new implicit association tests (IATs) to measure implicit attitudes and associations (i.e., stereotypes) toward Pacific Islanders from Micronesia in 2 conditions: (1) Micronesians vs. Whites and (2) Micronesians vs. Japanese Americans. Participants were practicing OB-GYNs in Hawai'i. The study was conducted online and included survey questions on demographic and physician practice characteristics in addition to IATs. The primary outcome was the mean IAT D score. Associations between IAT D scores and demographic and practice characteristics were also analyzed.
Of the 49 OB-GYNs, 38 (77.6%) were female, mean age was 40 years, 29.5% were Japanese, 22.7% were White, and none were from a Micronesian ethnic group. The mean IAT D score in the Micronesian vs. White condition (N = 29) was 0.181, (SD: 0.465, p < 0.05) for the Attitude IAT and 0.197 (SD: 0.427; p < 0.05) for the Stereotype IAT.
The findings from this pilot suggest a slight degree of implicit bias favoring Whites over Micronesians within this sample of OB-GYNs and warrant a larger investigation into implicit biases toward this unique and understudied Pacific Islander population.
在夏威夷，与密克罗尼西亚西部岛屿有祖先联系的太平洋岛民是多个领域（包括医疗保健领域）不受限制的偏见的常见目标。在医疗保健提供者中，是否存在明确的社会层面的态度反映在他们的隐性态度中尚不清楚；因此，我们设计了一项初步研究来调查这个问题。我们的研究衡量了夏威夷妇产科医生（OB-GYN）对密克罗尼西亚太平洋岛民的隐性种族偏见。
我们开发了 4 种新的内隐联想测验（IAT），以衡量 2 种条件下对密克罗尼西亚太平洋岛民的内隐态度和联想（即刻板印象）：（1）密克罗尼西亚人与白人，（2）密克罗尼西亚人与日裔美国人。参与者为夏威夷的执业 OB-GYN。该研究在线进行，除了 IAT 外，还包括人口统计学和医生实践特征的调查问题。主要结果是平均 IAT D 分数。还分析了 IAT D 分数与人口统计学和实践特征之间的关联。
在 49 名 OB-GYN 中，38 名（77.6%）为女性，平均年龄为 40 岁，29.5%为日本人，22.7%为白人，没有来自密克罗尼西亚族裔群体。在密克罗尼西亚人与白人条件下的平均 IAT D 分数（N=29）在态度 IAT 中为 0.181（SD：0.465，p<0.05），在刻板印象 IAT 中为 0.197（SD：0.427；p<0.05）。
这项初步研究的结果表明，在这个妇产科医生样本中，存在略微倾向于白人而不是密克罗尼西亚人的隐性偏见，并需要对这一独特且研究不足的太平洋岛民群体的隐性偏见进行更大规模的调查。
