Abstract
Minoritized health sciences students report experiencing social isolation and discrimination, and cite the lack of faculty representation as barriers to their success. While virtual mentoring can increase sense of belonging and connectedness, these effects have not been examined in minoritized health sciences students. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether virtual mentoring from faculty and peers could decrease social isolation and promote social belonging among minoritized first-year physical therapy and nursing students. Using a mixed methods explanatory sequential design, racial and ethnic minority physical therapy and nursing students (n = 8) received virtual mentoring and attended virtual networking events while students from across the health profession programs served as a comparison group (n = 16). While virtual mentoring relationships took longer to establish, there was an increase in satisfaction with mentoring for the intervention group compared with no improvement for the comparison group who received traditional academic advising. Qualitative data analysis revealed that mentors served as role models who had overcome barriers and persevered, decreasing feelings of isolation, and bolstering mentee confidence. A virtual multiple-mentor model can decrease isolation and promote social belonging for minoritized students and offer support for students even after the pandemic.
Highlights
The critical need for a racially and ethnically diverse healthcare workforce to meet population needs is evident [1]
The physical therapy (PT) workforce is 84.3% White [6], and racial and ethnic minority (REM) students in accredited Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) programs make up only 23.3% of graduates [7]
REM students have increased academic difficulty while enrolled in DPT [8,9,10] and nursing (NS) programs [11,12], and underperform on national licensing tests compared to their White counterparts [13]
Summary
The critical need for a racially and ethnically diverse healthcare workforce to meet population needs is evident [1]. Despite the growing diversity of the USA population [2], only 10 percent of healthcare professionals practicing in the USA are from minoritized backgrounds [3]. The physical therapy (PT) workforce is 84.3% White [6], and racial and ethnic minority (REM) students in accredited Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) programs make up only 23.3% of graduates [7]. REM students have increased academic difficulty while enrolled in DPT [8,9,10] and nursing (NS) programs [11,12], and underperform on national licensing tests compared to their White counterparts [13]. NS and PT students report social isolation, discrimination, stereotyping, and a lack of representation in academic and clinical faculty as factors which contribute to academic difficulty [8,14,15,16,17]
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