PS6-03: IS BEAUTY IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER? DIFFERENCES IN SURGICAL TRAINING PROGRAM PREFERENCES AMONG WOMEN AND MINORITIES
Katelyn Cavanaugh, PhD1, Brian J Dunkin, MD2, Ross Willis3, Aimee Gardner, PhD4; 1SurgWise Consulting, MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2SurgWise Consulting, 3SurgWise Consulting, University of Texas Health Sciences Center San Antonio, 4SurgWise Consulting, Baylor College of Medicine
Introduction: A lack of diversity within the surgical workforce has surgical training programs searching for opportunities to attract and retain individuals from underrepresented backgrounds. However, social identity theory and data from other industries suggest that group membership can influence individual preferences towards various work attributes (e.g. social support, collaboration, prestige). Understanding how gender and ethnic identities may affect applicant attraction to a program’s attributes can help programs seeking to attract candidates from different backgrounds.
Methods: Applicants to general surgery programs completed a secondary assessment to supplement their ERAS application to be considered for an on-site interview. The assessment contained 31 program characteristics and attributes that candidates rated for their ideal training program (1=not important, 5=essential). Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to identify themes across the 31 items. Candidate gender and race/ethnicity, as identified from the ERAS application, was included to identify differences in responses. Descriptive statistics and ANOVA were used to analyze the data using SPSS 25.0.
Results: The assessment was completed by 1491 unique applicants to 7 residency programs across four states. Forty-four percent of the candidate pool were underrepresented minorities (URM; non-white, non-male). Factor analysis revealed 8 unique themes in the program preferences categories, which captured attributes related to a program’s: established academics (4 items), clinical experience (6 items), social support (3 items), traditionalism (5 items), turbulence (3 items), flexibility (3 items), social cohesion (4 items), and innovation (3 items). When compared to white males, women placed more value on training programs that had high levels of social support (p < 0.001), were less traditional (p< 0.001), and with less turbulence (p< 0.05). Compared to white candidates, non-white candidates reported greater importance on programs with higher levels of established academics (p< 0.001), clinical experiences (p< 0.001), social support (p< 0.05), traditionalism (p< 0.001), flexibility (p< 0.001), and innovation (p< 0.001).
Conclusions: These data suggest that women and minorities place different values than white males on certain program attributes. Organizational efforts to attract and retain a diverse workforce may benefit from considering the aspects of work that align with preferences of URMs.