Women’s Wellness Through Equity and Leadership (WEL): A Program Evaluation

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The Women's Wellness through Equity and Leadership (WEL) program was developed as a collaboration between 6 major medical associations in the United States. The goal was to contribute to the creation of equitable work environments for women physicians. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the pilot implementation of WEL.METHODS: Participants included a diverse group of 18 early career to midcareer women physicians from across medical specialties, 3 from each partner organization. WEL was developed as an 18-month program with 3 series focused on wellness, equity, and leadership and included monthly virtual and in-person meetings. After institutional board review approval, a mixed-methods evaluation design was incorporated, which included postseries and postprogram surveys and in-depth telephone interviews.RESULTS: Participants delineated several drivers of program success, including peer support and/or networks; interconnectedness between the topics of wellness, equity, and leadership; and diversity of participants and faculty. Areas for improvement included more opportunities to connect with peers and share progress and more structured mentorship. Regarding program impact, participants reported increased knowledge and behavior change because of their participation.CONCLUSIONS: This longitudinal, cohort initiative resulted from a successful collaboration between 6 medical associations. Evaluation findings suggest that providing opportunities for women physicians to connect with and support each other while building knowledge and skills can be an effective way to advance wellness, equity, and leadership for women in medicine.

A Rapid Realist Review on Leadership and Career Advancement Interventions for Women in Healthcare

“…In health services or professional associations where leadership and/or mentorship programmes for women healthcare workers (C) aligned with organizational goals and existing roles, were inclusive of all genders, and had buy-in from executive and middle management by management being involved in the programme (M-R1), then this bolstered programme success with participants as it enhanced their leadership skills, knowledge, con dence, and self-e cacy (O). This is because the organisational support encouraged involvement and participation, and obstacles related to the planning and execution of the programme were reduced (M-R2) [24][25][26][27][28][29].…”

“…Topics for education can include communication, con ict resolution, the feeling of belonging, leader vs. manager, mentoring vs. coaching, wellness, equity, quality improvement methods, leadership styles, critical inquiry, project management, and transformational leadership [24][25][26][27][28].…”

From describing disparities to understanding why disparities exist: Anti‐racist methods to support dental public health research

“…Examples : Deliberately recruit, mentor, resource, and cede power to diverse leaders within the dental disciplines [39–41]…”

Characterization of National Medical Societies’ Accessible Resources to Support Underrepresented Minority and Female Trainees

“…In recent years, recognition of the disparate gender gap pervasive throughout medicine has driven increased efforts throughout all levels of training-from medical schools to residency and faculty positions-to promote greater gender inclusion. [5][6][7][8][9] Although women have achieved parity in medical school classes, 10 work remains to be done in the promotion of more equitable representation in specialties traditionally dominated by men. Indeed, surgical subspecialties continue to lag nonsurgical programs with regard to representation of women, 11 but ongoing research continues as to why this remains the case despite endeavors to recruit more women.…”

“…Another topic frequently covered under the umbrella of diversity in medicine is gender equity. In recent years, recognition of the disparate gender gap pervasive throughout medicine has driven increased efforts throughout all levels of training—from medical schools to residency and faculty positions—to promote greater gender inclusion . Although women have achieved parity in medical school classes, work remains to be done in the promotion of more equitable representation in specialties traditionally dominated by men.…”