WED-082 - Narrowing the Opportunity Gap: Evaluating a Workforce Development Program for Underrepresented Minority Students

Brief Abstract Summary: Join us to learn about ways to combat the opportunity gap faced by Black and Latinx students in pursuing healthcare careers. We know that a diverse healthcare workforce contributes to improved health outcomes among racial and ethnic minorities, yet we continue to see disparities in the opportunities afforded to Black and Latinx students. We have over 20 years of experience implementing a program in Chicago that has been effective in improving knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy towards pursuing healthcare careers. We include a mental health and wellness workshop to combat the stress and anxiety that new, challenging experiences can pose. Join us to learn about our program and the findings of our comprehensive evaluation, as we work together to build a healthcare workforce that reflects our nation’s diverse population.

Detailed abstract description: Background/

Objectives:

Despite evidence that demonstrates that improving the diversity of the healthcare workforce is an effective way to address disparities in health outcomes, racial and ethnic minorities continue to be underrepresented in healthcare professions. Studies thus far have shown that improved exposure and professional development opportunities at a young age may contribute to increasing Black and Latinx representation in the healthcare workforce. Furthermore, we know that students embarking on new, challenging experiences can experience stress and anxiety. Discovering Healthcare Careers (DHC) is a six-week internship that includes hands-on clinical exposure, mentorship, professional development, and mental health and wellness workshops. We performed a comprehensive outcomes evaluation to determine the effectiveness of DHC on students’ knowledge, self-efficacy, and skills related to pursuing healthcare careers.  


Methods:

We recruited students from Black and Hispanic/Latinx backgrounds (17-19 years) to participate in DHC. We evaluated the program using pre-/post assessment utilizing Likert scales and free response questions to assess changes in students’ knowledge, self-efficacy and skills. We performed Wilcoxon signed-rank tests to determine statistical significance.



Results:

We enrolled 57 students, with the final analysis limited to 23. Slightly more than half of the students were female and they had all completed 11th or 12th grade prior to starting the program. They all attended Chicago Public Schools. Our program significantly improved students' knowledge of healthcare careers (p < 0.05) and perceived self-efficacy in pursuing healthcare careers (p < 0.05). Furthermore, students reported an increase in skills related to resume writing (p < 0.05), engaging in a job interview (p < 0.05), and personal mental health (eg. Mindfulness, breathing exercises) (p < 0.05). At the end of the program, all participants agreed that the program was a valuable experience and would recommend this program to others.  



Conclusions:
DHC successfully improved knowledge, self-efficacy, and skills related to pursuing healthcare careers. Program expansion would be beneficial to improve knowledge, self-efficacy and skills related to pursuing healthcare careers and therefore decreasing the opportunity gap for other students from similar backgrounds. Furthermore, long term evaluations are needed to determine if the program’s short-term effectiveness contributes to improved workforce diversity.