Increasing High School Student Social Capital for Success in Health Professions - Project Summary A diverse U.S. healthcare workforce, including gender, race, ethnicity, and intersectional identities, is needed to ensure access to quality and relevant healthcare for all populations. Although this diversity in healthcare and health careers is crucial, researchers have documented that talented minoritized students often face systemic barriers that prevent them from thriving in their chosen profession. Educational interventions such as pathway programs have sought to improve access to medical careers; however, many programs are either too late (focusing solely on the undergraduate level), lack exposure to medical school curricula (such as problem-based learning), and/or lack follow-up support and critical coaching when students enter college or professional school. New approaches that break down these systemic barriers are urgently needed. Our SEPA project has an intentional program design to reduce disparities in students’ social capital (inherited and acquired) to enable student success in medical and health education. We hypothesize that increasing high school students' social capital will reduce the barriers to health careers. We propose two specific methods for increasing student social capital within the context of a research-based pathway program: increase student access to information and engagement with support and resources about health careers and the educational trajectory, and create a multi-level mentorship network composed of high school students, pre-med undergraduates, and medical students. To test our hypothesis, we will design and refine a modular curriculum to introduce high school and college students to medical education and provide them with knowledge and skills development essential for pursuing a career in health professions. The multi-institutional project team will implement a four-year medical pathway program for high school students in partnership with schools with racially diverse student populations and/or a high percentage of students living in low-income households. This project combines Social Capital Theory (SCT), an evidence-based mentorship structure, and best practices for designing and implementing pathway programs. At the project’s completion, the research education program will have supported 70 high school students, 10 undergraduate students, and 15 medical students to progress in their education and career goals. Expected outcomes are to spark and sustain high school and undergraduate students' interest in health careers; to increase participants’ application and acceptance into health-related programs; to increase medical students' professional self-efficacy; and to establish a sustainable mentoring network of high school, undergraduate, and medical students, and physicians. The scientific education research will be novel in applying SCT to help reduce systemic barriers to medical and health education. The project is scalable with the potential for local, regional, and national programs all of which, in the long term, will contribute to a more equitable society, where people of all backgrounds and identities have access to relevant and quality healthcare.
