The First Steps Matter: Early Career Influences on Women Engineers’ Success in Sri Lanka

Promoting Leadership by Women in Gastroenterology—Lessons Learned and Future Directions

PurposeThe purpose of this case study is to explore innovative approaches to addressing the persistent underrepresentation of Latinx individuals in PK-12 educational leadership positions. By examining the Latinx Educational Leadership Roundtable at X State University, the study aims to identify effective strategies for developing and supporting Latinx educational leaders. It seeks to understand the role of storytelling, cultural affirmation, mentorship and safe spaces in leadership development. The research intends to provide insights into overcoming systemic barriers and psychological challenges faced by Latinx educators, with the ultimate goal of informing practices and policies that can increase Latinx representation in educational leadership and create more inclusive, culturally responsive educational environments.Design/methodology/approachThis essay explores the underrepresentation of Latinx individuals in PK-12 educational leadership positions and provides a best practices case study of the Latinx Educational Leadership Roundtable at a state university. It employed a qualitative, participatory research approach, focusing on the lived experiences of Latinx educational leaders. The research centered on the Latinx Educational Leadership Roundtable at X State University, which brought together 11 participants: four principal licensure students and five practicing administrators from partner school districts. Data collection methods included open discussions, networking sessions and resource sharing activities. The roundtable met twice during a spring semester, with participants also having opportunities for individual mentoring sessions. Student participants facilitated discussions to minimize potential limitations from white instructors.FindingsThe study revealed five critical themes. The power of storytelling in building community and challenging dominant narratives, fostering a sense of shared identity among Latinx leaders. The importance of cultural affirmation in fostering belonging and empowerment, combating feelings of isolation in predominantly white institutions. The crucial role of mentorship and networking in career advancement, addressing the scarcity of Latinx mentors in leadership positions. The necessity of safe spaces for open dialogue and addressing unique challenges, providing refuge from microaggressions and stereotypes. The value of innovative, culturally responsive practices in leadership development, such as gratitude circles, which align with Latinx cultural values. These findings underscore the effectiveness of targeted, culturally responsive interventions in supporting Latinx educational leaders.Research limitations/implications This study underscores the need for multifaceted approaches to increase Latinx representation in educational leadership. Findings suggest implementing culturally responsive leadership programs, mentorship initiatives and safe spaces for dialogue. The research highlights the potential for school–university partnerships to address systemic barriers. Limitations: The study’s small sample size and focus on one institution limit generalizability. The short-term nature of the roundtable may not capture long-term impacts. Participant self-selection could introduce bias. The study’s regional context may not reflect challenges in other geographical areas. Future research should explore longitudinal outcomes, examine diverse institutional contexts and investigate the scalability of such initiatives across different educational settings.Practical implicationsThe study offers several practical implications. Educational institutions should implement culturally responsive leadership development programs incorporating storytelling and cultural affirmation. Create safe spaces for dialogue and peer support among Latinx educators. Develop robust mentorship programs pairing aspiring Latinx leaders with experienced administrators. Review and revise hiring practices to eliminate bias and increase diversity in leadership positions. Policymakers should allocate funding for diversity initiatives and mandate inclusion training. Implement accountability measures for increasing Latinx representation in leadership. Aspiring Latinx leaders should actively seek mentorship, engage in storytelling and build strong professional networks. Embrace cultural identity as a strength in leadership roles. These strategies can contribute to increasing Latinx representation in educational leadership and fostering more inclusive educational environments.Originality/valueThis study’s originality lies in its innovative approach to addressing Latinx underrepresentation in educational leadership. It examines a unique intervention – the Latinx Educational Leadership Roundtable – providing insights into effective, targeted support strategies. The research employs a participatory approach, centering Latinx voices and experiences in the study design and implementation. It explores the intersection of storytelling, cultural affirmation and leadership development in a novel way. The study investigates the role of safe spaces and culturally responsive practices in nurturing Latinx leaders. It offers a comprehensive view of the challenges and opportunities in developing Latinx educational leaders, bridging theory and practice. The research provides a model for school–university partnerships aimed at increasing diversity in educational leadership.

Dr. Carpenter is Associate Dean for Administration and Strategic Initiatives and Wayne and Juanita Spinks Professor of Mathematics in the College of Engineering and Science at Louisiana Tech University. She also directs the Office for Women in Science and Engineering. She is PI of Louisiana Tech’s NSF ADVANCE grant to improve the success of women faculty. She was co-PI on the NSF grant which developed the WEPAN Knowledge Center and webinar series. She is Chair of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Grand Challenge Scholars Program National Steering Committee. She served for six years on the Board of Directors for WEPAN. She served on the National Advisory Panel for the Society for Women Engineer’s Assessing Women in Engineering (AWE) Project; as Vice President for Professional Interest Councils on the Board of Directors for the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE); and is Director-at-Large for the ASEE Women in Engineering Division. She regularly reviews for the ASEE Women in Engineering Division, the Frontiers in Education Conference, National Science Foundation programs (including the Graduate Fellows Program and ADVANCE), the Journal for Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, and has reviewed for the NAE Center for the Advancement of Scholarship in Engineering Education (CASEE) Applying Research to Practice (ARP) series. She currently co-advises diversity and mentoring programs for the NSF-funded Louisiana Alliance for Simulation-Guided Materials Application (LA-SiGMA) program; sits on the External Advisory Board for the NSF ADVANCE project at the University of West Florida; and is on the Leadership Team for the Louisiana Girls Collaborative Project.

Introduction: Women play an essential role in health care delivery, and it is vital that they have equal representation in health leadership for equity, innovation, and the strengthening of health systems globally. Yet women remain vastly underrepresented in global health leadership positions, providing a clear example of the deeply rooted power imbalances that are central to the calls to decolonize global health. We conducted a multi-country study in Haiti, Tanzania, India, and the USA to examine gender-based challenges to career advancement for women in the global health workforce. Quantitative data on the type and prevalence of gender-based challenges has been previously reported. In this study, we analyze qualitative data collected through focus group discussions and in-depth interviews to understand women’s experiences of gender-based obstacles to career advancement, their perceptions of underlying drivers, and perspectives on effective solutions. Guided by an adaptation of the Social Action Theory, we conducted focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with women at 4 major academic centers for clinical care and research in Haiti, India, Tanzania, and the United States. In total, 85 women participated in focus groups and 15 also participated in in-depth interviews. Discussions and interviews were conducted in the local language, by an experienced local facilitator unaffiliated with the participating institution, between 2017 and 2018. Discussions were recorded, transcribed, and translated. Data were analyzed by interpretive phenomenological methods for emergent themes. Three transcendent themes on gender-based challenges were identified: 1) cultural power imbalance, referring to the prevailing norms and engrained assumptions that women are less capable than men and that women’s primary responsibility should be to their families; 2) institutional power imbalance, referring to the systematic gender bias upheld by existing leadership and power structures, and ranging from exclusion from career development opportunities to sexual harassment and assault; and 3) restricted agency, referring to women’s limited ability to change their circumstances because of unequal cultural and institutional structures. Participants also described local, actionable solutions to address these barriers. These included: 1) formal reporting systems for sexual harassment and assault; 2) peer support and mentorship; and 3) accessible leadership training and mandatory gender equity training. Participants proposed feasible strategies to address gender-based challenges that could improve women’s retention in health careers and foster their rise to leadership. Increasing the representation of women in global health leadership positions responds directly to efforts to decolonize global health and is integral to strengthening health systems and improving health outcomes for women and children worldwide.

Women in Engineering: Professional Life illuminates the professional lives of today's women engineers through articles, lectures, reports, and essays dating back to the 1920s. The selections in this groundbreaking anthology examine the current state of employment opportunities for women, the gender gap, and opportunities for career advancement for women in engineering. This volume includes reports from the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor encouraging women to pursue engineering careers during and after World War II; career advice from pioneer Elsie Eaves; and a retrospective of the Society of Women Engineers' guidance activities. With selections that span a century of historical and social analysis, Women in Engineering: Professional Life and its companion volume, Women in Engineering: Pioneers and Trailblazers , detail the triumphs and challenges women have faced in the engineering field and bring to vivid life their contributions to engineering, and to history.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that might contribute to the ease with which marketing executives in UK charities who have been promoted to senior general management positions adjust to the occupancy of these roles.Design/methodology/approach– In total, 37 individuals with functional marketing backgrounds currently holding top general management positions in large fundraising charities were interviewed using a frame-worked occupational autobiographic narrative approach. The research was informed by aspects of newcomer adjustment theory, notably uncertainty reduction theory.Findings– Social and personal considerations were much more important determinants of the ease of assimilation into top management positions in charities than were technical job-related matters. Role ambiguity constituted the main barrier to smooth adjustment. Mentoring, planned induction programmes, the nature of a person’s past work experience and the individual’s social status critically affected how readily a marketer fitted into a top management role. Disparate sets of factors influenced different elements of managerial newcomer adjustment (role clarity, self-efficacy, and social acceptance).Research limitations/implications– As the participants in the study needed to satisfy certain narrowly defined criteria and to work in a single sector (large fundraising charities) the sample was necessarily small. It was not possible to explore the effects on operational performance of varying degrees of ease of newcomer adjustment.Practical implications– Individuals promoted to top management posts in charities should try psychologically to break with the past and should not be afraid of projecting a strong functional professional identity to their new peers. These recommendations can be expected to apply to organisations in general which, like large charities, need senior management mentoring and induction programmes to assist recently promoted individuals from function-specific backgrounds; job descriptions for top management posts that are clear and embody realistic expectations; and “shadowing” and training activities for newly appointed senior managers with function-specific backgrounds.Originality/value– The study is the first to apply newcomer adjustment theory to the assimilation of functional managers into more senior general management. It examines a broader range of potential variables affecting managerial newcomer adjustment than has previously been considered. Relevant issues are examined in the context of an important sector: fundraising charities.

Qualitative studies have shown that peer support is of value to parents and other caregivers of children with neurodisability. However, this value likely cascades to other areas such as family well-being. There are various forms and functions of peer support, and how they operate is not well understood for this population. Models of family resilience theory can be helpful to situate the impact of parent-to-parent peer support processes within a family context to further explain how this type of assistance is beneficial. Our study aimed to describe the specific pathways by which peer support may contribute to resilience in families and how processes embedded in this type of support can enrich family resilience theory. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we examined transcripts and notes from 19 interviews with parents of children with neurodisabilities regarding their involvement in a large (n = 300) and predominantly volunteer-based peer support network in western Canada. Using an inductive coding method, we identified patterns in the data. Following a process of reflection and discussion, we then used a deductive approach to situate themes within a family resilience theoretical framework. We identified three main themes from the data: Modifying belief systems through shared lived experience; navigating resources; and negotiating resources and engaging in social discourses. These themes confirm previous findings in the literature, and the subthemes demonstrate how they may contribute to broader family-level experiences beyond that of the parent. We present a model for understanding how processes in peer support can be understood within a family resilience theoretical framework. We also propose that the reciprocity embedded within peer support builds upon previous concepts within family resilience theory. Future studies can use this theoretical framework to guide research questions to further explore the effects of peer support at the family and community levels.

11039 Background: Participation in mentorship programs for early career physicians may be crucial to developing key skills and professional networks to navigate racial, ethnic and gender leadership disparities in medicine. A 6-month virtual facilitated peer mentorship program was developed and piloted through the Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO) Women & Diversity Committee. The evaluation of the program’s feasibility to positively impact early career physicians, investigators and trainees is presented here. Methods: We designed and conducted a virtual mentoring program pilot open to SNO’s multidisciplinary members in residency, fellowship, or early career phase, leveraging peer-mentoring sessions with mid-to late-career physician mentors. A curriculum with online resources was provided recommending groups meet for 6 sessions: 3 involving the mentor and 3 dedicated to peer-mentoring. Group assignments were based on time-zones and interests. Pre- and post-participation surveys assessed mentee experience. Descriptive statistics were used to assess participant demographics and survey results. Results: Our call for participation was broad; all 20 mentee applicants participated in 5 groups. Mentees were 90% women and 60% were from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Most were aged 31-40 (75%) and junior faculty (50%) in neuro-oncology (65%). The 5 senior mentors (3 men and 3 of diverse race and ethnic backgrounds) practiced either neuro-oncology (3), neurosurgery (1) or radiation oncology (1). The proportion who reporting having a signature lecture increased from 15% to 62% during the pilot. A large majority reported their participation was worthwhile (85%), that they would participate again (92%) and would recommend it to others (92%). Feedback themes included positive personal growth, peer support, networking and job opportunities, access to CV reviews, lack of and desire for late career female mentors, and virtual scheduling constraints. While the pilot was limited by several variables, it was timely to connect participants in Q3 of 2020 early in the COVID-19 global pandemic. The virtual meeting environment created a venue to share and discuss topics such as work-life balance, burnout, leading through change and social connection. Despite not achieving 100% professional concordance, participants found the experience worthwhile. The tools and curriculum of topics provided was implemented differently across groups, leading to varied experiences. Finally, we did not have 100% post pilot follow up despite multiple attempts limiting our complete understanding of the pilot. Conclusions: This virtual mentorship pilot program proved feasible and of value in development of early career women and diverse individuals. A resource toolkit has been designed to scale and diffuse.

Caregivers of children with chronic conditions face daily challenges and a lower quality of life, which may be improved through peer support. This scoping review explored the literature on formal caregiver-to-caregiver mentorship programs, identifying strategies to inform future programs. Using Arskey and O'Malley's framework, we searched five databases for peer-reviewed literature on caregiver-to-caregiver mentorship programs for adult caregivers caring for children (≤18 years) with chronic conditions. Thematic analysis was performed on relevant articles. Of the 10 064 search hits, 109 were included after full-text screening. Theme 1, "Mentorship adds to medical support", reflected how mentorship can complement medical care provided by healthcare teams. Theme 2, "Successful mentorship requires the right mentors", highlighted the qualities of mentors crucial for effective mentorship, mentor-matching practices, and training areas for mentors. Theme 3, "Mentorship programs should balance structure and flexibility", emphasized the importance of allowing for flexibility to accommodate diverse family needs. Theme 4, "Mentorship programs face common challenges", summarized the challenges frequently faced when implementing mentorship programs. The study findings suggest that the success of mentorship programs hinge on factors including a flexible program structure, knowledgeable and dedicated mentors, and an infrastructure in place for supporting both the mentors and the financial needs of the program.

Early career experiences provide the foundation for career progression and inform career choices and decisions. For women in the engineering profession, positive early career experiences have been linked to persistence and retention within the profession A recent focus on early careers within engineering has provided insight into early career role types and related competencies, competency and capability gaps experienced by novice engineers, and their perceptions of meaningful engineering work. There is opportunity to diversify and contextualise this understanding by exploring early career experiences of women working within the engineering profession, and by considering the influence of gender on early career experiences and decisions. This paper reports on an empirical investigation of the career experiences of 22 women engineers in senior roles within engineering organisations in the Australian context. Phenomenological and temporal analysis of their career reflections provides evidence of three early career patterns of varied sequence and focus. The influences shaping these career paths are described. By making explicit possible, diverse early career paths, determinants and outcomes, this paper aims to continue to bridge the engineering education-practice gap and to contribute to greater equality, diversity, and inclusion within the profession.

Suicide is a devastating public health problem, and research indicates that people with prior attempts are at the greatest risk of completing suicide, followed by persons with depression and other major mental and substance use conditions. Because there has been little direct input from individuals with serious mental illness and a history of suicidal behavior concerning suicide prevention efforts, this study examined how this population copes with suicidal thoughts. Participants in 14 regional consumer-run Hope Dialogues in New York State (N=198) wrote up to five strategies they use to deal with suicidal thoughts. Strategies were classified according to grounded theory. First responses included spirituality, talking to someone, positive thinking, using the mental health system, considering consequences of suicide to family and friends, using peer supports, and doing something pleasurable. Although a majority reported that more formal therapeutic supports were available, only 12% indicated that they considered the mental health system a frontline strategy. Instead, respondents more frequently relied on family, friends, peers, and faith as sources of hope and support. Consumers' reliance on formal therapeutic supports and support from peers and family suggests that education and support for dealing with individuals in despair and crisis should be targeted to the social networks of this high-risk population. The disparity between availability of formal mental health services and reliance on them when consumers are suicidal suggests that suicide prevention efforts should evaluate whether they are effectively engaging high-risk populations as they struggle to cope with despair.

Narrative discourse of burn injury and recovery on peer support websites: A qualitative analysis

BackgroundDespite the beneficial effects of peer support on breastfeeding, research on the process of peer support is scarce. In Lebanon, exclusive breastfeeding is only 15% in infants below six months. A multidisciplinary team launched a multi-component breastfeeding support intervention, with peer support, and professional lactation support provided by International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLs) to target this decline.AimTo describe the experiences of breastfeeding mothers and peer support providers with the process of breastfeeding support, and the influence of the intervention on their social support system.MethodsUsing a qualitative methodology, a purposive sample of breastfeeding and support mothers was accessed from among those who completed their six months interview in the trial taking place in two hospitals in Beirut, Lebanon. Data were collected from 43 participants using in-depth interviews and following the data saturation principle. All interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was conducted, guided by the principles of grounded theory.ResultsBreastfeeding mothers were satisfied with their breastfeeding experience, and extremely appreciative of the support provided by their peers and the IBCLCs. They experienced these forms of support differently. Peer support was perceived to be important in encouraging breastfeeding continuation, whereas IBCLC support was influential in problem solving.ConclusionThese findings can improve our understanding of the peer and professional lactation support process within the social context, and the realities of breastfeeding mothers, and help facilitate the scaling up of interventions in similar contexts.

ABSTRACTBackgroundServing as peer supporters in later life has been linked to a greater sense of purpose and meaning in life. How the wisdom of older adults could be leveraged to improve the implementation of peer support work, however, has rarely been considered. We aimed to examine the perspectives of peer supporters in this study, including the challenges they encountered in practice and the strategies they developed to navigate their roles.MethodsA series of semi‐structured focus group interviews was conducted with 23 peer supporters (mean age = 66.2 years, SD = 7.1) in a community‐based stepped‐care intervention service for depressive symptoms in older adults aged 60 years and older in Hong Kong. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis and discussed with peer supporters to ensure relevance.ResultsThree themes emerged to reflect challenges faced in peer support work: role ambiguity, boundary setting, and engaging with service users. To address these challenges, centring attention on meaningful engagement with users, managing expectations of users regarding the scope of peer support, and expanding the social networks of both users and peer supporters were prioritised. The importance of professional development through continuous learning and mentorship programmes, as well as creating user‐centred environments, was also highlighted.Conclusions and ImplicationsThese findings suggest that older adults have the potential to actively navigate through service challenges by leveraging their internal capabilities and external resources. Integrating these insights into future peer support service design could enhance service delivery and empower older adults to become active agents of employment and care, thereby contributing to productive and healthy ageing initiatives.Patient and Public ContributionThe JoyAge Peer Support network adopts a co‐production and partnership approach to designing all services and research. The present work was part of an effort to ensure that the lived experiences and wisdom of peer supporters could be reflected in future service design. All findings of this study were discussed with peer supporters to ensure their relevance.

BackgroundDespite a lack of robust evidence of effectiveness, mentoring programmes are commonplace in various settings and contexts in the United Kingdom (UK). Due to their potential to influence health and...