The Influences On And Experiences Of Underrepresented Minority Females In One Southeastern United States Medical School

<p>Representation in enrollment of African American female and Latina students is inconsistent with the demographic makeup across the United States. Exploring the experiences of current and past students at one southeastern medical school assisted in determining a possible cause for that underrepresentation. Two questions guided this study: (1) How do underrepresented minority (URM) females describe their decision to pursue medical education? (2) How did cultural, societal, or familial experiences or expectations influence these URM females to pursue medical education? This study employed an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis methodology with a Critical Race Feminism framework to gather the stories of female medical students from those URM backgrounds. Significant findings include a strong support system within an academically intense family, a strong maternal role-model, financial constraints, a need for more science, technology, engineering, and math programs during formative education, and a desire for community within academia. These findings also suggest a need for reconsideration of intersectionality and anti-essentialism within pipeline programs and the approach that medical schools take to recruiting. Incorporating those changes will ultimately increase proportionate representation of minority females within US medical schools.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Year dc:date.available

2021

Author dc:creator

• Holmes, Brianne

Contributors dc:contributor

• Ella Benson
• Ashwini Wagle
• Daniel Marlowe

• Educational Leadership
• Higher Education

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dune.une.edu/theses/360

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dune.une.edu:theses-1359