Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations.
As racial and ethnic diversity in the United States continues to grow, the need for a representative OT workforce is amplified. This study illustrates the strategies utilized by OT programs to recruit under-represented minority (URM) students into the profession and the barriers to recruiting and retaining URM students. Results were obtained from a mixed-methods survey distributed to program directors of all accredited doctoral and master's OT programs to address this topic.
Primary Author and Speaker: Jasmin Torres
Additional Authors and Speakers: Diane L. Smith
Contributing Authors: Gaurdia Banister
IMPORTANCE: As racial and ethnic diversity in the United States (U.S.) continues to grow, the need for a representative Occupational Therapy (OT) workforce increases. Health disparities continue to persist in our current healthcare system and should be confronted by amplifying diverse perspectives in healthcare.
PURPOSE: To understand the strategies utilized by accredited Occupational Therapy programs in recruiting underrepresented minority (URM) students into the profession. Researchers also aimed to understand the perceived barriers/facilitators to recruiting and retaining URM students.
DESIGN: An online, mixed-methods survey was developed by researchers based upon a review of available health professions literature. This survey was created via REDcap and was active for a total of four weeks. Program directors from accredited Doctoral and Master's level programs (n = 187) in the U.S. were purposefully recruited to respond to this survey. Program director emails were obtained online.
METHOD: Quantitative survey data were investigated via frequency distributions provided within REDcap while qualitative data were manually coded. Open-ended responses were reviewed several times using open and axial coding methods. Researchers cross-compared thematic analyses to ensure accuracy of interpretation before finalizing themes.
RESULTS: A total of 37 survey respondents participated, yielding a response rate of 19.8%. The results of this study indicate that most OT programs surveyed do utilize recruitment strategies, such as holistic admissions, pipeline programs, and mentorship programs. The most commonly cited barriers to recruiting URMs included programs' lack of finances, an inability to appeal to URMs, high admissions requirements to be accepted into OT programs, and student's coming from an educationally disadvantaged background. Challenges to retaining URMs already in OT programs included a lack of program inclusion efforts, URM personal factors and URM academic performance. Some identified personal factors included a general lack of confidence, work or community obligations and language comprehension. While some programs are primarily concerned with recruiting diverse populations, others have found that once they have established diverse representation, students may not feel supported or included. For some programs the challenge of retaining students was identified as being more difficult than recruiting students, with survey participants voicing concerns over their ability to foster an inclusive environment for URMs.
CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that numerous barriers exist to recruiting and matriculating URM OT students. Despite this, most programs indicated that they have found their program's recruitment strategies to be successful.
IMPACT STATEMENT: We must take active measures to ensure that URMs are provided with equitable opportunities for advancement by having open and often times uncomfortable dialogues, confronting biases, and acknowledging where shortcomings lie. While there remains tremendous work to be done in the topic area of diversity and inclusion, it remains a vital component to create a workforce that delivers best practice and optimal patient outcomes to the diverse populations we serve.
References
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