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’Where are you really from?’: a qualitative study of racial microaggressions and the impact on medical students in the UK

OBJECTIVE: To explore graduate-entry medical students’ experiences of racial microaggressions, the impact of these on learning, performance and attainment, and their views on how these can be reduced. DESIGN: Qualitative study using semistructured focus groups and group interviews. SETTING: UK. PART...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Morrison, Nariell, Zaman, Tabbasum, Webster, Georgia, Sorinola, Olanrewaju, Blackburn, Clare
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BMJ Publishing Group 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10163503/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37147091
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069009
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author Morrison, Nariell
Zaman, Tabbasum
Webster, Georgia
Sorinola, Olanrewaju
Blackburn, Clare
author_facet Morrison, Nariell
Zaman, Tabbasum
Webster, Georgia
Sorinola, Olanrewaju
Blackburn, Clare
author_sort Morrison, Nariell
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVE: To explore graduate-entry medical students’ experiences of racial microaggressions, the impact of these on learning, performance and attainment, and their views on how these can be reduced. DESIGN: Qualitative study using semistructured focus groups and group interviews. SETTING: UK. PARTICIPANTS: 20 graduate-entry medical students were recruited using volunteer and snowball sampling; all students self-identified as being from racially minoritised (RM) backgrounds. RESULTS: Participants reported experiencing numerous types of racial microaggressions during their time at medical school. Students’ accounts highlighted how these impacted directly and indirectly on their learning, performance and well-being. Students frequently reported feeling uncomfortable and out of place in teaching sessions and clinical placements. Students also reported feeling invisible and ignored in placements and not being offered the same learning opportunities as their white counterparts. This led to lack of access to learning experiences or disengagement from learning. Many participants described how being from an RM background was associated with feelings of apprehension and having their ‘guards up’, particularly at the start of new clinical placements. This was perceived to be an additional burden that was not experienced by their white counterparts. Students suggested that future interventions should focus on institutional changes to diversify student and staff populations; shifting the culture to build and maintain inclusive environments; encouraging open, transparent conversations around racism and promptly managing any student-reported racial experiences. CONCLUSION: RM students in this study reported that their medical school experiences were regularly affected by racial microaggressions. Students believed these microaggressions impeded their learning, performance and well-being. It is imperative that institutions increase their awareness of the difficulties faced by RM students and provide appropriate support in challenging times. Fostering inclusion as well as embedding antiracist pedagogy into medical curricula is likely to be beneficial.
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spelling pubmed-101635032023-05-07 ’Where are you really from?’: a qualitative study of racial microaggressions and the impact on medical students in the UK Morrison, Nariell Zaman, Tabbasum Webster, Georgia Sorinola, Olanrewaju Blackburn, Clare BMJ Open Medical Education and Training OBJECTIVE: To explore graduate-entry medical students’ experiences of racial microaggressions, the impact of these on learning, performance and attainment, and their views on how these can be reduced. DESIGN: Qualitative study using semistructured focus groups and group interviews. SETTING: UK. PARTICIPANTS: 20 graduate-entry medical students were recruited using volunteer and snowball sampling; all students self-identified as being from racially minoritised (RM) backgrounds. RESULTS: Participants reported experiencing numerous types of racial microaggressions during their time at medical school. Students’ accounts highlighted how these impacted directly and indirectly on their learning, performance and well-being. Students frequently reported feeling uncomfortable and out of place in teaching sessions and clinical placements. Students also reported feeling invisible and ignored in placements and not being offered the same learning opportunities as their white counterparts. This led to lack of access to learning experiences or disengagement from learning. Many participants described how being from an RM background was associated with feelings of apprehension and having their ‘guards up’, particularly at the start of new clinical placements. This was perceived to be an additional burden that was not experienced by their white counterparts. Students suggested that future interventions should focus on institutional changes to diversify student and staff populations; shifting the culture to build and maintain inclusive environments; encouraging open, transparent conversations around racism and promptly managing any student-reported racial experiences. CONCLUSION: RM students in this study reported that their medical school experiences were regularly affected by racial microaggressions. Students believed these microaggressions impeded their learning, performance and well-being. It is imperative that institutions increase their awareness of the difficulties faced by RM students and provide appropriate support in challenging times. Fostering inclusion as well as embedding antiracist pedagogy into medical curricula is likely to be beneficial. BMJ Publishing Group 2023-05-05 /pmc/articles/PMC10163503/ /pubmed/37147091 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069009 Text en © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Medical Education and Training
Morrison, Nariell
Zaman, Tabbasum
Webster, Georgia
Sorinola, Olanrewaju
Blackburn, Clare
’Where are you really from?’: a qualitative study of racial microaggressions and the impact on medical students in the UK
title ’Where are you really from?’: a qualitative study of racial microaggressions and the impact on medical students in the UK
title_full ’Where are you really from?’: a qualitative study of racial microaggressions and the impact on medical students in the UK
title_fullStr ’Where are you really from?’: a qualitative study of racial microaggressions and the impact on medical students in the UK
title_full_unstemmed ’Where are you really from?’: a qualitative study of racial microaggressions and the impact on medical students in the UK
title_short ’Where are you really from?’: a qualitative study of racial microaggressions and the impact on medical students in the UK
title_sort ’where are you really from?’: a qualitative study of racial microaggressions and the impact on medical students in the uk
topic Medical Education and Training
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10163503/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37147091
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069009
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