Randomized controlled trial of a group peer mentoring model for U.S. academic medicine research faculty

Abstract Introduction:Midcareer is a critical transition point for biomedical research faculty and a common dropout point from an NIH-funded career. We report a study to assess the efficacy of a group peer mentoring program for diverse biomedical researchers in academic medicine, seeking to improve vitality, career advancement, and cross-cultural competence. Methods:We conducted a stratified randomized controlled trial with a waitlist control group involving 40 purposefully diverse early midcareer research faculty from 16 states who had a first-time NIH R01 (or equivalent) award, a K training grant, or a similar major grant. The yearlong intervention (2 to 3 days quarterly) consisted of facilitated, structured, group peer mentoring. Main study aims were to enhance faculty vitality, self-efficacy in achieving research success, career advancement, mentoring others, and cultural awareness and appreciation of diversity in the workplace. Results:Compared to the control group, the intervention group’s increased vitality did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.20), but perceived change in vitality was 1.47 standard deviations higher (D = 1.47, P = 0.03). Self-efficacy for career advancement was higher in the intervention group (D = 0.41, P = 0.05) as was self-efficacy for research (D = 0.57, P = 0.02). The intervention group also valued diversity higher (D = 0.46, P = 0.02), had higher cognitive empathy (D = 0.85, P = 0.03), higher anti-sexism/racism skills (D = 0.71, P = 0.01), and higher self-efficacy in mentoring others (D = 1.14, P = 0.007). Conclusions:The mentoring intervention resulted in meaningful change in important dimensions and skills among a national sample of diverse early midcareer biomedical faculty. This mentoring program holds promise for addressing the urgencies of sustaining faculty vitality and cross-cultural competence

Making sense of infant familiarity and novelty responses to words at lexical onset

This study suggests that familiarity and novelty preferences in infant experimental tasks can in some instances be interpreted together as a single indicator of language advance. We provide evidence to support this idea based on our use of the auditory headturn preference paradigm to record responses to words likely to be either familiar or unfamiliar to infants. Fifty-nine 10-month-old infants were tested. The task elicited mixed preferences: Familiarity (longer average looks to the words likely to be familiar to the infants), novelty (longer average looks to the words likely to be unfamiliar) and no-preference (similar-length of looks to both type of words). The infants who exhibited either a familiarity or a novelty response were more advanced on independent indices of phonetic advance than the infants who showed no preference. In addition, infants exhibiting novelty responses were more lexically advanced than either the infants who exhibited familiarity or those who showed no-preference. The results provide partial support for Hunter and Ames' (1988) developmental model of attention in infancy and suggest caution when interpreting studies indexed to chronological age

Symmetries in Practice: Ruth Crawford Seeger\u27s \u3ci\u3eDiaphonic Suites\u3c/i\u3e in Graphical Representation, Technical Analysis, and Historiographic Discussion

This paper re/presents Ruth Crawford Seeger’s four Diaphonic Suites (1930-1) and represents the first collective analysis of these works. Herein I use historiographic critique, as well as graphical analysis, to both “present” these pieces by providing a structural overview and “represent” them by revealing problematic aesthetic and analytical trends in the last 40 years of scholarship. In doing so, my research uncovers valuable symmetries across the suites and their histories and offers a new understanding of these works and contemporary music theory itself

Creating a more supportive and inclusive university culture: a mixed-methods interdisciplinary comparative analysis of medical and social sciences at the University of Oxford

Results of two C-Change surveys of 4997 faculty and staff in medical and social sciences are analysed quantitatively and qualitatively and presented with illustrative quotations giving voice to critical personal perceptions of the culture and efforts to improve it. The C-Change survey included 12 dimensions of the culture: Vitality; Self-Efficacy in Career Advancement; Institutional Support; Relationships/Inclusion/Trust; Values Alignment; Ethical/Moral Distress; Leadership Aspirations; Work-Life Integration; Gender Equity; Black and Minority Ethnic Equity; Institutional Change Efforts for Diversity; Institutional Change Efforts for Faculty Support. Women were less positive than men on six dimensions in medical and ten dimensions in social sciences, suggesting that women’s experiences are different to those of men. Both women and men were more positive about the culture in medical than social sciences. A more positive culture in medical sciences is attributed to the wide-spread implementation of Athena SWAN gender equality action plans linked to the NIHR funding incentives

Creating a more supportive and inclusive university culture: a mixed-methods interdisciplinary comparative analysis of medical and social sciences at the University of Oxford

Results of two C-Change surveys of 4997 faculty and staff in medical and social sciences are analysed quantitatively and qualitatively and presented with illustrative quotations giving voice to critical personal perceptions of the culture and efforts to improve it. The C-Change survey included 12 dimensions of the culture: Vitality; Self-Efficacy in Career Advancement; Institutional Support; Relationships/Inclusion/Trust; Values Alignment; Ethical/Moral Distress; Leadership Aspirations; Work-Life Integration; Gender Equity; Black and Minority Ethnic Equity; Institutional Change Efforts for Diversity; Institutional Change Efforts for Faculty Support. Women were less positive than men on six dimensions in medical and ten dimensions in social sciences, suggesting that women’s experiences are different to those of men. Both women and men were more positive about the culture in medical than social sciences. A more positive culture in medical sciences is attributed to the wide-spread implementation of Athena SWAN gender equality action plans linked to the NIHR funding incentives

Why are a quarter of faculty considering leaving academic medicine? A study of their perceptions of institutional culture and intentions to leave at 26 representative U.S. medical schools

PURPOSE: Vital, productive faculty are critical to academic medicine, yet studies indicate high dissatisfaction and attrition. The authors sought to identify key personal and cultural factors associated with intentions to leave one\u27s institution and/or academic medicine. METHOD: From 2007 through early 2009, the authors surveyed a stratified random sample of 4,578 full-time faculty from 26 representative U.S. medical schools. The survey asked about advancement, engagement, relationships, diversity and equity, leadership, institutional values and practices, and work-life integration. A two-level, multinomial logit model was used to predict leaving intentions. RESULTS: A total of 2,381 faculty responded (52%); 1,994 provided complete data for analysis. Of these, 1,062 (53%) were female and 475 (24%) were underrepresented minorities in medicine. Faculty valued their work, but 273 (14%) had seriously considered leaving their own institution during the prior year and 421 (21%) had considered leaving academic medicine altogether because of dissatisfaction; an additional 109 (5%) cited personal/family issues and 49 (2%) retirement as reasons to leave. Negative perceptions of the culture-unrelatedness, feeling moral distress at work, and lack of engagement-were associated with leaving for dissatisfaction. Other significant predictors were perceptions of values incongruence, low institutional support, and low self-efficacy. Institutional characteristics and personal variables (e.g., gender) were not predictive. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that academic medicine does not support relatedness and a moral culture for many faculty. If these issues are not addressed, academic health centers may find themselves with dissatisfied faculty looking to go elsewhere