Ewart Susan L, Maves Benjamin E, Latona Omolade, Young Lindsey, Sawtelle Vashti, Watts Stephanie W, Yuzbasiyan-Gurkan Vilma
Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
Doctoral student of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 13244, USA.
J Vet Med Educ. 2024 Aug 22:e20240045. doi: 10.3138/jvme-2024-0045.
While all facets of the health care workforce need to diversify, the veterinary profession lags behind in training students from underrepresented populations. The need to increase diversity among health care professionals is not limited to clinicians but extends to those generating new information through biomedical research. To address demographic disparities within the biomedical research community, we provide a summer research program for veterinary and undergraduate students from populations historically underrepresented in the biomedical workforce that is explicitly designed to foster science identity and subsequently increase participants' interest and success in pursuing biomedical research-related educational and career paths. We hypothesized that participation in this program would enhance science identity, confidence, and pursuit of research-related education and subsequent careers. Three validated survey instruments containing qualitative ordered rating scales were administered to program participants ( = 57) over the course of the summer in which they participated (2018-2022). Questions asked at two time points were analyzed with a repeated-measures linear mixed-effects model. Significant growth was reported in most topics surveyed over time. Many queries within gains, confidence, and science identity modules displayed significant increases over time or scored high in surveys at both time points. In addition, post-graduate educational and career outcomes were obtained for alumni ( = 130) of program years 2011-2023; their post-graduate enrollment rates (78%) markedly exceeded national norms. This multidimensional experiential research program, which holistically fosters professional networking and student confidence in research-related endeavors, provides quantifiable growth in research skills and science identity. These gains support students' persistence in research and biomedical-related educational and career paths.
虽然医疗保健行业的各个方面都需要实现多元化，但兽医行业在培养来自代表性不足群体的学生方面却落后了。医疗保健专业人员增加多样性的需求不仅限于临床医生，还延伸到那些通过生物医学研究产生新信息的人员。为了解决生物医学研究领域的人口统计学差异，我们为兽医和本科生提供了一个暑期研究项目，这些学生来自生物医学劳动力中历史上代表性不足的群体，该项目旨在明确培养科学认同感，进而提高参与者对从事生物医学研究相关教育和职业道路的兴趣和成功率。我们假设参与该项目将增强科学认同感、自信心，并促进对研究相关教育及后续职业的追求。在参与者参与项目的夏季期间（2018 - 2022年），对57名项目参与者使用了三种包含定性有序评分量表的经过验证的调查工具。对在两个时间点提出的问题采用重复测量线性混合效应模型进行分析。随着时间的推移，在大多数调查主题中都报告了显著的增长。在收获、信心和科学认同感模块中的许多问题随着时间的推移显示出显著增加，或者在两个时间点的调查中得分都很高。此外，还获得了2011 - 2023年项目校友（n = 130）的研究生教育和职业成果；他们的研究生入学率（78%）明显超过全国平均水平。这个多维度的体验式研究项目全面促进了专业网络建设以及学生在研究相关活动中的信心，在研究技能和科学认同感方面实现了可量化的增长。这些收获支持了学生在研究以及生物医学相关教育和职业道路上的坚持。
