scholarly journals Training Underrepresented Early-Career Faculty in Cardiovascular Health Research during COVID -19: Structural Inequities and Health Disparity

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-416
Author(s):  
Ana F. Diallo ◽  
Olamide Alabi ◽  
Angela Groves ◽  
Amber E. Johnson ◽  
Florence Okoro ◽  
...  

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted race-based health disparities and structural racism in the United States. Enhancing the training of early-career academic and health scientists from underrepresented minority groups (URM) is critical to reduce disparities affecting underserved population groups. A dedicated training program that has been proven to support URM can facilitate career development for junior faculty during the pandemic. This critical support ensures the retention of talented, racially diverse junior faculty who are poised to mitigate struc­tural racism, rather than perpetuate it. We describe how the Cardiovascular Disease Programs to Increase Diversity Among Indi­viduals Engaged in Health-Related Research (PRIDE-CVD) summer institute successfully transitioned from a face-to-face format to a virtual format during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, early-career faculty continued to receive the PRIDE-CVD train­ing on research methodology, grantsman­ship, career development, and CVD health disparities, especially as related to the pandemic. In addition, the virtual format facilitated networking, promoted mental wellness, and allowed continual mentor­ship. Collectively, the program provided timely and relevant career development in the COVID-19 era and helped partici­pants navigate the psychosocial challenges of being a URM in cardiovascular health research.Ethn Dis. 2021;31(3):411-416; doi:10.18865/ed.31.3.411

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 215013272110183
Author(s):  
Azza Sarfraz ◽  
Zouina Sarfraz ◽  
Alanna Barrios ◽  
Kuchalambal Agadi ◽  
Sindhu Thevuthasan ◽  
...  

Background: Health disparities have become apparent since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. When observing racial discrimination in healthcare, self-reported incidences, and perceptions among minority groups in the United States suggest that, the most socioeconomically underrepresented groups will suffer disproportionately in COVID-19 due to synergistic mechanisms. This study reports racially-stratified data regarding the experiences and impacts of different groups availing the healthcare system to identify disparities in outcomes of minority and majority groups in the United States. Methods: Studies were identified utilizing PubMed, Embase, CINAHL Plus, and PsycINFO search engines without date and language restrictions. The following keywords were used: Healthcare, raci*, ethnic*, discriminant, hosti*, harass*, insur*, education, income, psychiat*, COVID-19, incidence, mortality, mechanical ventilation. Statistical analysis was conducted in Review Manager (RevMan V.5.4). Unadjusted Odds Ratios, P-values, and 95% confidence intervals were presented. Results: Discrimination in the United States is evident among racial groups regarding medical care portraying mental risk behaviors as having serious outcomes in the health of minority groups. The perceived health inequity had a low association to the majority group as compared to the minority group (OR = 0.41; 95% CI = 0.22 to 0.78; P = .007), and the association of mental health problems to the Caucasian-American majority group was low (OR = 0.51; 95% CI = 0.45 to 0.58; P < .001). Conclusion: As the pandemic continues into its next stage, efforts should be taken to address the gaps in clinical training and education, and medical practice to avoid the recurring patterns of racial health disparities that become especially prominent in community health emergencies. A standardized tool to assess racial discrimination and inequity will potentially improve pandemic healthcare delivery.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 675-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Yarbrough ◽  
Pam Martin ◽  
Danita Alfred ◽  
Charleen McNeill

Background: Hospitals are experiencing an estimated 16.5% turnover rate of registered nurses costing from $44,380 - $63,400 per nurse—an estimated $4.21 to $6.02 million financial loss annually for hospitals in the United States of America. Attrition of all nurses is costly. Most past research has focused on the new graduate nurse with little focus on the mid-career nurse. Attrition of mid-career nurses is a loss for the profession now and into the future. Research objective: The purpose of the study was to explore relationships of professional values orientation, career development, job satisfaction, and intent to stay in recently hired mid-career and early-career nurses in a large hospital system. Research design: A descriptive correlational study of personal and professional factors on job satisfaction and retention was conducted. Participants and research context: A convenience sample of nurses from a mid-sized hospital in a metropolitan area in the Southwestern United States was recruited via in-house email. Sixty-seven nurses met the eligibility criteria and completed survey documents. Ethical considerations: Institutional Review Board approval was obtained from both the university and hospital system. Findings: Findings indicated a strong correlation between professional values and career development and that both job satisfaction and career development correlated positively with retention. Discussion: Newly hired mid-career nurses scored higher on job satisfaction and planned to remain in their jobs. This is important because their expertise and leadership are necessary to sustain the profession into the future. Conclusion: Nurse managers should be aware that when nurses perceive value conflicts, retention might be adversely affected. The practice environment stimulates nurses to consider whether to remain on the job or look for other opportunities.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Brown ◽  
Reginald Tucker-Seeley

<p>The recent trend of premature death among Whites in the United States has garnered attention in both the popular and academic literature. This attention has focused on the plight of low socioeconomic status Whites in non-urban areas. The population health lit­erature in general and the health disparities literature more specifically has struggled to describe differences in health when White groups present worse health outcomes or worsening trends compared with racial/ ethnic minority groups. There remain many open questions as population health/health disparities research attempts to explain the increasing mortality rates for low socioeco­nomic status Whites in non-urban areas in relationship to other racial/ethnic groups. As the conversation in the academic and popular literature continues to unfold, a key question for population health research and practice is how will the ‘deaths of despair’ phenomenon among Whites influence our measuring of, and reporting and interven­ing on, race/ethnic health disparities? <em></em></p><p><em>Ethn Dis. </em>2018;28(2):123-128; doi:10.18865/ ed.28.2.123.</p>


Author(s):  
Carolyn Moxley Rouse

The United States Healthy People 2010 initiative, designed to focus nationally funded health research and care on achieving a set of nationwide goals, was directed toward the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities. While racial and ethnic disparities are complex (with the health of some minority groups surpassing the national average), the health of black Americans continues to fall short of the national average. By focusing on the presumptions embedded in the design of health disparities research, this chapter addresses why Healthy People 2010 largely failed to reduce racial health inequality. Importantly, in thinking about health inequalities, researchers initially failed to consider how race is socially constructed; how data collection is never value-neutral (see King, chapter 8, this volume); and, finally, the limits of randomized control trials (deductive methods) when it comes to making sense of complex behavioral and structural data. The chapter ends by describing how ethnographic insights can help complicate the assumptions and conclusions of health disparities research.


Author(s):  
Sara M. St. George ◽  
J. Rubén Parra-Cardona ◽  
Denise C. Vidot ◽  
Lourdes M. Molleda ◽  
Ana Quevedo Terán ◽  
...  

Hispanics experience significant physical and behavioral health disparities compared to their racial and ethnic counterparts. To combat these health disparities, evidence-based interventions (EBIs) that prevent risk and promote protective factors within the broader context of culture must be systematically developed and disseminated. The purpose of this chapter is to describe key concepts related to the content and process of developing culturally relevant preventive interventions. The continuum of approaches for developing culturally relevant preventive interventions, including strengths and limitations, practical considerations, and recommendations for overcoming existing challenges, are discussed. Two exemplar preventive interventions targeting Hispanic youth and families, Criando con Amor: Promoviendo Armonia y Superación and Familias Unidas, are also highlighted. The approaches described in this chapter may maximize intervention effects and improve health outcomes for underrepresented minority groups, such as Hispanics.


2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn L. Servilio ◽  
Aleksandra Hollingshead ◽  
Brittany L. Hott

In higher education, current teaching evaluation models typically involve senior faculty evaluating junior faculty. However, there is evidence that peer-to-peer junior faculty observations and feedback may be just as effective. This descriptive case study utilized an inductive analysis to examine experiences of six special education early career faculty, from different institutions, using the partnerships that enhance practice (PEP) model for technology-based observations of teaching in higher education. PEP paired early career faculty into dyads. Each participant served as a provider and a recipient of feedback on teaching. The data were derived from semistructured interviews with each dyad and additional information was obtained from four instruments that facilitated peer-to-peer observations. Findings suggest this technology-based model has the potential to improve teaching skills and serve as a tool for developing professional partnerships among special education early career faculty across institutions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Bettina M. Beech ◽  
Marino A. Bruce ◽  
Roland J. Thorpe, Jr ◽  
Elizabeth Heitman ◽  
Derek M. Griffith ◽  
...  

<p>Mentoring has been consistently identi­fied as an important element for career advancement in many biomedical and health professional disciplines and has been found to be critical for success and promotion in academic settings. Early-career faculty from groups underrepresented in biomedical research, however, are less likely to have mentors, and in general, receive less mentoring than their majority-group peers, particularly among those employed in teaching-intensive institutions. This article describes Obesity Health Disparities (OHD) PRIDE, a theoretically and concep­tually based research training and men­toring program designed for early-career faculty who trained or are employed at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). <em></em></p><p><em>Ethn Dis. </em>2018;28(2):115-122; doi:10.18865/ed.28.2.115.  </p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew VanEseltine ◽  
Nancy Calvin-Naylor ◽  
Jason Owen-Smith

Background: The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) funds “K” awards that provide both resources and access to mentoring believed to be invaluable for early career faculty. The KL2 Mentored Career Development Award trains early-career clinicians with the goal of guiding scholars toward an independent clinical and translational research career. This study presents the pilot of a systematic, low-burden method to examine scientific and career outcomes for these awardees, applying a novel set of linked administrative data. Methods: Clinical and Translational Science Award hubs administering KL2 awards at ten universities who participate in the Institute for Research on Innovation and Science (IRIS) provided names of scholars in their KL2 cohorts. Using extensive data on sponsored projects which IRIS member universities provide, we linked the KL2 scholars to information on subsequent publication, patent, and grant activity. Results: Analyses of linked data supported a rigorous, sustainable, low-cost approach to examining career outcomes. A subset of key metrics identified by CTSA evaluators were operationalized as an examination of the post-award careers of KL2 awardees. We successfully identified contemporaneous faculty with different NIH K Awards to use as comparison groups. The pilot culminated in university-specific and aggregate reporting to all participating hubs. Conclusions: This pilot demonstrates that substantive evaluations of early career programs are possible using administrative data from universities with low additional burden. Integration of research on career development outcomes offer new means to examine the effects of increasingly diverse funding, team, and collaborative network structures, advancing both knowledge about the workings of science and practices to support early career faculty. This approach could be extended to support rigorous multi-institutional evaluation and research on a range of student and faculty training mechanisms.


2021 ◽  
pp. jim-2020-001769
Author(s):  
Nicole M Llewellyn ◽  
Jamie J Adachi ◽  
Eric J Nehl ◽  
Stacy S Heilman

Health science researchers need training and support to effectively pursue independence in their research careers. Little data exist regarding the specific resources that faculty researchers have found or would find useful. In this study, we aimed to better understand the needs of health science researchers to develop recommendations for effective career development programming. The authors conducted a multi-method evaluation of early-career researcher faculty needs beginning by using post-session satisfaction surveys to assess the value of a long-standing “K-Club” seminar, which educates and supports those pursuing NIH Career Development (K) awards or similar. The authors then collected in-depth views on career development needs through a series of focus groups conducted with health science researchers at three career stages: early career, award-seeking junior faculty; mid-career faculty who have obtained some extramural funding; senior faculty who serve as mentors for early/mid-career faculty. Participants who attended the existing K-Club strongly endorse the program in supporting their career goals. Focus group participants described specific areas for program expansion that would add value across career stages: more flexible training options, conducted in smaller group settings with immediate feedback provided; more formalized training and resources for senior research mentors; in-depth guidance on individualized grantsmanship. The authors propose program development guidelines for helping researchers achieve research independence and success. Findings indicate that a broad-reaching K-Club style educational seminar can serve as a valuable foundation supporting professional development. The addition of tailored programs delivered across diverse platforms are predicted to heighten career development success.


F1000Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 1208
Author(s):  
India King ◽  
Andrea Christopher ◽  
Ann Hansen ◽  
Ami Student ◽  
Jeff Sordahl ◽  
...  

Small, isolated teaching centers have difficulty mentoring interprofessional junior faculty in research methods and grant writing. Peer mentoring programs for grant writing at larger institutions have been successful. In this short report, we describe our program that leveraged mentor experience using four framing seminars followed by project refinement in three-person peer groups and monthly mentored works in progress meetings. In its first year, ten faculty from medicine, psychology, and pharmacy completed the program and successfully obtained six funded grants. Five of the projects transitioned from single profession applications to interprofessional applications as participants connected and profession-specific expertise was identified. Refinements for future cohorts are discussed.


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