Health disparities for individuals from under-represented minority groups (URMGs) continue to plague the US population. The roots of this problem are many and complex, but of great relevance is the dearth of individuals from URMGs in the health professions workforce, with serious disparities in the ethnic/racial composition of the workforce being particularly pronounced in nursing. The 2008 NSSRN survey showed 32.1% of Black/African American nurses and 39.4% of Latino nurses had baccalaureate degrees;for all racial/ethnic groups combined, only 11.4% had graduate degrees including PhDs. This state exists at a time when the US population is becoming older and more ethnically diverse. Given this dire state of affairs, we are proposing to enhance an existing relationship between the Schools of Nursing at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU), an Historically Black Graduate Institution and Hispanic Serving Institution, for the purpose developing and implementing an integrated plan of individual and institutional activities to prepare masters students from URMGs to make a seamless transition to doctoral education. The long term goal of this project is to increase the ethnic/racial diversity of those prepared to pursue research careers in nursing focusing on research about aging adults (45+ years) by (1) increasing involvement of master's students and faculty at CDU SON in the scientific enterprise through structured development activities;(2) enriching the research course offerings and scientific environment at CDU SON to prepare master's students to seamlessly transition to doctoral education;and (3) facilitating student advancement to the UCLA SON via systems that facilitate student enrollment and scientific exchange between faculty at UCLA and CDU.
Health disparities persist despite efforts to curb them. Encouraging more diverse, underrepresented minority individuals to pursue doctoral education in the health care field, such as nursing, is one documented way to reduce health disparities. This application proposes collaboration between University of California Los Angeles and Charles Drew University to provide the supportive and educational activities required to prepare a more diverse nursing workforce at the doctoral level, who will ask the relevant research questions and develop the science that will ultimately reduce health disparities.
