Comparison Between Students Admitted Through Regular Path and Affirmative Action Systems in a Brazilian Public Medical School

Marize Lima de Sousa Holanda Biazotto; Fernanda Viana Bittencourt; Gilson Roberto de Araújo; Sérgio Eduardo Soares Fernandes; Leila Bernarda Donato Göttems; Carlos Manoel Lopes Rodrigues; Francisco de Assis Rocha Neves; Fábio Ferreira Amorim

doi:10.2147/AMEP.S347387

Comparison Between Students Admitted Through Regular Path and Affirmative Action Systems in a Brazilian Public Medical School

Adv Med Educ Pract. 2022 Mar 14:13:251-263. doi: 10.2147/AMEP.S347387. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Marize Lima de Sousa Holanda Biazotto^{1

2}, Fernanda Viana Bittencourt³, Gilson Roberto de Araújo², Sérgio Eduardo Soares Fernandes¹, Leila Bernarda Donato Göttems¹, Carlos Manoel Lopes Rodrigues⁴, Francisco de Assis Rocha Neves², Fábio Ferreira Amorim^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine, School of Health Sciences (ESCS), Brasília, Federal District, Brazil.
² Graduation Program in Health Sciences, University of Brasília (UnB), Brasília, Federal District, Brazil.
³ Education and Research Foundation of Health Sciences (FEPECS), Brasília, Federal District, Brazil.
⁴ School of Psychology, Centro Universitário de Brasília (UniCEUB), Brasília, Federal District, Brazil.

Abstract

Purpose: Affirmative action policies to provide access to higher education for socially vulnerable students have been implemented in several countries and have faced many questions nowadays. The aim of the study was to compare the socioeconomic background and performance during and after completing the undergraduate course of students admitted through the regular path and social quota systems in a public medical school in Brazil.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study including students admitted to a medical school within the School of Health Sciences (ESCS), in Brazil, between 2005 and 2012, and followed until May 2020. In the first phase, data collection was performed by analyzing documents from the ESCS academic management system and Brazilian government agencies. In the second phase, a survey with 12 questions was sent to the medical school alumni. The social quota system criteria were the public school attendance in all primary and secondary education levels.

Results: Among 707 students, 204 (28.9%) were from the social quota and 503 (78.5%) from the regular path system. The place of residence of social quota students had a lower Human Development Index (p < 0.001) and per capita income (p < 0.001) when compared to regular path students. Regular path students were associated with the highest dropout from medical school (OR: 50.552, 95% CI: 12.438-205.453, p < 0.001). There was no difference between regular path and social quota students attending medical residency programs (OR: 1.780, 95% CI: 0.957-3.309, p = 0.069). Out of the 308 alumni who completed the survey, regular path students had more family members who were health professionals than social quota students (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences regarding monthly income, job satisfaction, employment, or management activities.

Conclusion: Affirmative action targeted students with a disadvantaged socioeconomic background. Regular path students had a higher dropout rate than social quota students.

Keywords: affirmative action; medical education; medical school; public policy; social marginalization; social mobility.