Design of an Intervention to Promote Entry of Minority Youth into Clinical Research Careers by Aligning Ambition: The TEACH (Training Early Achievers for Careers in Health) Research Program

Abstract

The theory of aligned ambition posits that adolescents' career aspirations are shaped by both contextual and attitudinal factors. Minority students are less likely to exhibit career-specific knowledge, realistic attitudes, and successful behaviors, which could exacerbate racial disparities in the health care workforce. This article describes the theoretical grounding and preliminary implementation of an intervention designed to promote aligned ambition from an early stage of career development. The Training Early Achievers for Careers in Health Research Program provides exposure to realistic career experiences and multitiered mentorship, with the goal of cultivating aligned ambition toward clinical research careers among minority high school students. We discuss program operations in detail and consider whether this method can be used nationally to promote entry of minority youth into clinical research careers.

Matching by Race and Gender in Mentoring Relationships: Keeping our Eyes on the Prize

“…In such programs, protégés are assigned to mentors. Following the recognition that mentoring helps protégés and the recognition that those already privileged may have greater access to mentors than those who have been traditionally excluded (Moore, Miller, Pitchford, & Jeng, 2008), formal mentoring programs gained increasing popularity in both business and education (Allen, Eby, & Lentz, 2006; Arora, Schneider, Thal, & Meltzer, 2011; Blake‐Beard, 2001).…”

Ethnic Minorities and Women in STEM: Casting a Wide Net to Address a Persistent Social Problem

“…Particular attention is paid to the characteristics of effective mentoring and to issues arising from the personal characteristics of mentors and protégés. This theme is highlighted in Arora et al (2011), who describe an in vivo study of a program meant to introduce students, who might not otherwise have the opportunity, to develop an accurate and motivating understanding of research careers in medicine. This article makes a unique contribution by detailing the specifics of a theoretically driven intervention program for URM youth.…”

“…Accordingly, the second dimension of diversity that we attended to reflects the multistage nature of the problem. Although several articles focus on college students, we also included articles that discuss the experiences of high school students (Arora, Schneider, Thal, & Meltzer, 2011; Witkow & Fuligni, 2011), graduate students and postdoctoral fellows (Blake‐Beard, Bayne, Crosby, & Muller, 2011; Chemers, Zurbriggen, Syed, Goza & Bearman, 2011), and university professors (Smart Richman, vanDellen, & Wood, 2011). Although sampling across the developmental continuum restricts a deep understanding of a single educational period, it does help to highlight how underrepresentation operates at multiple levels along the pipeline.…”

“…Several of the studies are longitudinal, ranging from 1 year (Hurtado et al, 2011; Phinney, Torres Campos, Kallemeyn, & Kim, 2011) to 4 years (Witkow & Fuligni, 2011). The articles also make use of laboratory (Smart Richman et al, 2011) and field (Phinney et al, 2011) experiments, and two articles describe behavioral sampling methods (Arora et al, 2011; London, Rosenthal, & Gonzalez, 2011). Most of the articles are quantitative based, but Hurtado et al (2011) include qualitative data generated through interviews and focus groups.…”

Ethnic and Generational Differences in the Relations between Social Support and Academic Achievement across the High School Years

“…Many youth from immigrant families report working hard in school and getting good grades out of a sense of obligation to their parents (Fuligni & Pedersen, 2002). Unlike working hard to get good grades, however, enrolling in a college preparatory curriculum and meeting postsecondary admissions requirements often involves external support and information (see also Aurora, Schneider, Thal, & Meltzer, 2011). That is, the default curriculum may not be one that would allow a student to be University of California/California State University (UC/CSU) eligible upon graduation.…”