Providing Social Support for Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Minority PhD Students in the Biomedical Sciences: A Career Coaching Model
Open accessAbstract
Improvement in the proportion of underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities (URMs) in academic positions has been unsatisfactory. Although this is a complex problem, one key issue is that graduate students often rely on research mentors for career-related support, the effectiveness of which can be variable. We present results from a novel academic career “coaching” intervention, one aim of which was to provide supplementary social support for PhD students, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds. Coaching was delivered both within small groups and on an individual basis, with a diverse group of coaches and students coming from many universities. Coaches were provided with additional diversity training. Ninety-six semistructured interviews with 33 URM students over 3 years were analyzed using a qualitative framework approach. For most of the URM PhD students, coaching provided social support in the form of emotional, informational, and appraisal support. Coaching groups provided a noncompetitive environment and “community of support” within which students were able to learn from one another’s experiences and discuss negative and stressful experiences related to their graduate school, lab, or career plans. This coached peer group model is capable of providing the social support that many URM students do not find at their home universities.
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When underrepresented STEM students feel supported and receive social support from institutional interventions, they persist despite obstacles and thrive to attain their learning goals.
“However, research has shown that when underrepresented STEM students feel supported and receive social support from institutional interventions, they persist despite obstacles and thrive to attain their learning goals (Williams et al., 2017).”
From The Importance of STEM Sense of Belonging and Academic Hope in Enhancing Persistence for Low-Income, Underrepresented STEM Students (2024) · cites this paper as Williams et al., 2017
The Results (Appraisal Support; page not provided) describe students feeling more confident and less stressed after receiving support through the coaching intervention. The Discussion says whether that support fosters persistence toward academic careers or has lasting effects remains for future research. The paper therefore does not establish that supported students persisted and attained their learning goals, and its study focused on underrepresented biomedical-science PhD students rather than underrepresented STEM students generally. (LLM, conf=0.87)
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- Authors
- Williams, S. N., Thakore, B. K., & McGee, R.
- Affiliations
- Northwestern University (US)
- Elmhurst University (US)
- Corresponding author
- McGee, Richard
- Venue
- CBE—Life Sciences Education
- Published
- 2017-12
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- ar64
- ISSN
- 1931-7913 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5749966
- OpenAlex
- W2774535173
- Cited by
- 61
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 8.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- Locations
- CBE—Life Sciences Education (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Aston Publications Explorer (Aston University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of Nursing Research (R01NR011987)
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM107701, DP4GM096807, R01GM085385, R35GM118184)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Career Development and Diversity
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Doctoral Education Challenges and Solutions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mentoring and Academic Development
- Keywords
- doctoral students, social support, biomedical sciences, graduate student mentoring, diversity training, peer support groups, emotional support, information support, appraisal support
- MeSH terms
- Career Choice, Education, Graduate, Ethnicity, Female, Humans, Male, Minority Groups, Social Support, Students, Models, Educational, Biomedical Technology
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