Supporting Students of Color: Balancing the Challenges of Activism and the Minority Tax

Amuzie, Adaure U.; Jia, Justin L.

doi:10.1097/acm.0000000000004052

Cited by 8 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Knowing that low-income students feel proud of feeling a stronger connection with vulnerable patients creates opportunities for supervisors to empower these students to take the lead when empathy is missing and the doctor-patient relationship is sub-optimal. Nevertheless, it is crucial that “taking the lead” does not become an extra burden for already overwhelmed students, a process that is often called “the minority tax” [ 48 ]. “Minority tax” may be defined as “an array of additional duties, expectations, and challenges that accompany being an exception within white male-dominated institutional environments” [ 49 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social justice in medical education: inclusion is not enough—it’s just the first step

2022

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Introduction Medical schools worldwide are creating inclusion policies to increase the admission of students from vulnerable social groups. This study explores how medical students from vulnerable social groups experience belongingness as they join the medical community. Methods This qualitative study applied thematic analysis to 10 interviews with medical students admitted to one medical school through an affirmative policy. The interviews followed the drawing of a rich picture, in which the students represented a challenging situation experienced in their training, considering their socio-economic and racial background. The analysis was guided by the modes of belonging (engagement, imagination, and alignment) described by the Communities of Practice framework. Results Participants struggled to imagine themselves as future doctors because they lack identification with the medical environment, suffer from low self-esteem, aside from experiencing racial and social discrimination. Participants also find it troublesome to engage in social and professional activities because of financial disadvantages and insufficient support from the university. However, participants strongly align with the values of the public health system and show deep empathy for the patients. Discussion Including students with different socio-economic and racial backgrounds offers an opportunity to reform the medical culture. Medical educators need to devise strategies to support students’ socialization through activities that increase their self-esteem and make explicit the contributions they bring to the medical community.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social justice in medical education: inclusion is not enough—it’s just the first step

2022

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“…28,33 The intense and unjust burden of the minority tax experienced by students in our study, a burden that senior faculty administrators were often unaware of, reiterates the critical importance of diversity and representation among medical school leaders to ensure the burden of work does not fall on minoritized students. 34 Amuzie and Jia 35 acknowledged how the unequal burden and additional pressures on Black medical students can lead to limited capacity for academic and extracurricular activities and caution how this may indirectly affect residency selection, a process already known to perpetuate structural racism. [36][37][38][39] It is also worth recognizing how Black medical students took on an unequal burden of the collective trauma experienced from witnessing additional horrific instances of police violence and anti-Black racism, 40,41 on top of the many additional burdens and challenges faced by Black medical students compared with their peers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“This shouldn’t be our job to help you do this”: exploring the responses of medical schools across Canada to address anti-Black racism in 2020

Kalifa

Okuori

Kamdem

et al. 2022

CMAJ

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Systemic anti-Black racism is deeply entrenched in health systems and all aspects of medical training -from admissions and assessment, to the everyday discrimination experienced by Black medical students and physicians. [1][2][3] Medical schools in Canada have directly upheld anti-Black racism through institutional policies and practices that exclude Black people from the profession of medicine. A direct example of this is Queen's University's official ban on the admission of Black students that was enforced between 1918 and 1965 -and revoked only in 2018. 4 Although Black people constitute 3.5% of Canada's total population, they continue to be critically underrepresented in the population of practising physicians and medical students, 5 and this historical and ongoing exclusion of Black people from medical education has direct implications for the quality of patient care and health outcomes. [6][7][8][9] Institutional commitment of medical schools to prioritize combatting anti-Black racism and promote racial justice is lacking, especially in Canada, where the historical and ongoing legacy of systemic anti-Black racism has largely been minimized. 10 After the widely publicized murder of George Floyd in May 2020 and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests, medical schools -like many public and private organizations around the world -released

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“…Multipronged strategic plans target recruitment, retention, policy reform, and community outreach. As institutions unveil antiracism campaigns, implicit bias trainings, bystander interventions, and ambitious efforts to reengineer leaky pipelines, there are staggering demands on professional time and energy 4 , 5 . A critical question is how this work is apportioned and distributed.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The effort required for such endeavors is not necessarily equitably distributed, and it may not be recognized, compensated, or rewarded commensurate with other scholarly academic activities, resulting in the minority tax (Figure 1). [4][5][6][7][8][9] The term cultural taxation, coined by Amado Padilla in 1994, 10 is a ''way to describe the unique burden placed on ethnic minority faculty'' in carrying out responsibilities in aspects of DEI because of their ethnoracial backgrounds. Because there is often a limited number of URiM faculty on campus, a large quantity of work can fall to a small number of individuals.…”

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confidence: 99%

Tackling the Minority Tax: A Roadmap to Redistributing Engagement in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives

Faucett

Brenner

Thompson

et al. 2022

Otolaryngol.--head neck surg.

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Academic medical centers striving to implement diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and antiracism initiatives often ask faculty to volunteer substantial time to committee work, recruitment, mentoring, community, and administrative responsibilities. These requests are not in lieu of current workload and seldom count toward scholarship; the service may go unrecognized, unrewarded, and uncompensated. URiM faculty (underrepresented in medicine) providing such service thus pay a minority tax when precious time is syphoned away from career-advancing activities and personal growth. The resulting strain on available resources has social, psychological, and monetary ramifications that can undermine the long-term objectives of DEI initiatives. We examine the facets of the minority tax, consider the current state of diversity, and present a roadmap to redistribute, reform, and reduce URiM taxation through shared engagement in DEI initiatives. Key interventions include ascribing value to DEI efforts, implementing evidence-based policies to reduce bias, and promoting mentorship, sponsorship, and allyship.

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Supporting Students of Color: Balancing the Challenges of Activism and the Minority Tax

Cited by 8 publications

References 1 publication

Social justice in medical education: inclusion is not enough—it’s just the first step

Social justice in medical education: inclusion is not enough—it’s just the first step

“This shouldn’t be our job to help you do this”: exploring the responses of medical schools across Canada to address anti-Black racism in 2020

Tackling the Minority Tax: A Roadmap to Redistributing Engagement in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives

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