Army Postgraduate Dental School, Postgraduate Dental College, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, JBSA Fort Sam Houston, Texas, USA.
Department of Medical Education, Dartmouth College, Geisel School of Medicine, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA.
J Dent Educ. 2023 Jun;87(6):764-773. doi: 10.1002/jdd.13197. Epub 2023 Mar 16.
PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: Historically underrepresented racial and ethnic (HURE) dentists remain underrepresented in dental education and dental practice, and surprisingly, little is known about the factors that enable them to thrive. The lack of information about their experiences is a critical gap in the literature. The purpose of this critical qualitative study is to describe how HURE dental faculty in predominantly white institutions (PWIs) exercise agency to thrive and advance in academic promotion when faced with challenges and adversity in the workplace.
Thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2021 and 2022 with HURE dental faculty from 10 different institutions. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using the construct of agency and tenets of critical race theory to understand how they thrive in their institutions.
HURE dental faculty experienced racism as normal from both faculty and students. Racism centered around white faculty guarding access to white spaces, including things that should be open to everyone like meetings and information about promotion. To counter this, HURE faculty engaged in individual agency by fighting for their perspectives to be heard, proxy agency by seeking and building relationships with mentors and colleagues who could use their whiteness to create change, and improvisational agency by going outside their institutions for support.
CONCLUSION(S): To thrive in PWIs requires HURE faculty to exercise various forms of agency to directly or indirectly advocate for themselves as professionals. These findings have implications for dental leaders to change their existing structures and improve the work environments for HURE dental faculty.
目的/目标：历史上代表性不足的少数族裔和族裔（HURE）牙医在牙科教育和牙科实践中仍然代表性不足，令人惊讶的是，人们对使他们茁壮成长的因素知之甚少。缺乏关于他们经历的信息是文献中的一个关键空白。本批判性定性研究的目的是描述在面临工作场所的挑战和逆境时，主要由白人机构（PWI）中的 HURE 牙科教师如何行使代理权，在学术晋升中茁壮成长并取得进步。
2021 年至 2022 年，对来自 10 个不同机构的 13 名 HURE 牙科教师进行了半结构式访谈。采访进行了录音、转录，并使用代理机构的结构和批判种族理论的原则进行了分析，以了解他们如何在自己的机构中茁壮成长。
HURE 牙科教师从教职员工和学生那里经历了正常的种族主义。种族主义集中在白人教职员工保护进入白人空间的机会上，包括本应向所有人开放的事情，如会议和晋升信息。为了应对这种情况，HURE 教师通过争取让他们的观点被听到来行使个人代理权，通过寻求和与导师和同事建立关系来行使代理代理权，这些导师和同事可以利用他们的白人身份来创造变革，以及通过离开自己的机构寻求支持来行使即兴代理权。
在 PWI 中茁壮成长需要 HURE 教师行使各种形式的代理权，直接或间接地为自己作为专业人士辩护。这些发现对牙科领导者具有启示意义，他们需要改变现有的结构，改善 HURE 牙科教师的工作环境。
