Self-efficacy is found to be one of the most important factors in career selection and persistence, especially among underrepresented minorities and women, yet it has been only recently recognized as an important variable in the career development of physicians pursuing biomedical careers. As the number of physicians pursuing biomedical research careers is threatened and strategies to support their academic development become increasingly necessary, several concerns remain regarding the success of training efforts to expand the numbers of medical students or physicians pursuing this career pathway. Women and minorities, in particular, are at a distinct disadvantage since they often lack role models, mentoring and resources that are needed to support them. We recently concluded a study that found gender differences in clinical research self-efficacy of a predominately European-American post-graduate physician population. The goal of the proposed work is to expand our previous studies and extend them to an African-American population of biomedical researchers.
The specific aims of this study are to 1) refine and establish the validity and reliability of a self-efficacy inventory for biomedical research; 2) determine whether a self-efficacy intervention is effective at increasing biomedical research self-efficacy in women in two racially distinct; populations; 3) repeat the Short Course in Clinical Research in European American and African American sample populations and determine if it continues to exaggerate the gender differences in biomedical research self-efficacy and 4) determine whether the self-efficacy intervention sustains the way women of two races perceive their abilities to do biomedical research. We will use a combination of experimental and quasi-experimental methods to test our overall hypothesis that biomedical research self-efficacy differences exist between men and women, regardless of race. This study will provide insight for designing educational interventions that stimulate and sustain women and minorities in biomedical research careers.
| Bakken, Lori L; Byars-Winston, Angela; Gundermann, Dawn M et al. (2010) Effects of an educational intervention on female biomedical scientists' research self-efficacy. Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract 15:167-83 |
| Bakken, Lori L; Byars-Winston, Angela; Wang, Min-Fen (2006) Viewing clinical research career development through the lens of social cognitive career theory. Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract 11:91-110 |
