A pilot study on our non-traditional, varied writing accountability group for historically excluded and underrepresented persons in STEMM

Kit Neikirk; Taylor Barongan; Bryanna Shao; Elsie C Spencer; Kinutha Kabugi; Zachary Conley; Larry Vang; Mein Vue; Nancy Vang; Edgar Garza-Lopez; Amber Crabtree; Stefanie Alexander; Heather K Beasley; Andrea G Marshall; Mason Killion; Dominique Stephens; Beverly Owens; Denise Martinez; Caroline B Palavicino-Maggio; Felysha Jenkins; Chia Vang; Derrick J Morton; Haysetta Shuler; Sandra A Murray; Steven Damo; Zer Vue; Antentor Hinton Jr

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22335

A pilot study on our non-traditional, varied writing accountability group for historically excluded and underrepresented persons in STEMM

Heliyon. 2023 Nov 22;9(12):e22335. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22335. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Kit Neikirk¹, Taylor Barongan¹, Bryanna Shao¹, Elsie C Spencer^{1

2}, Kinutha Kabugi¹, Zachary Conley³, Larry Vang¹, Mein Vue¹, Nancy Vang¹, Edgar Garza-Lopez⁴, Amber Crabtree¹, Stefanie Alexander¹, Heather K Beasley¹, Andrea G Marshall¹, Mason Killion¹, Dominique Stephens^{1

5}, Beverly Owens⁶, Denise Martinez⁷, Caroline B Palavicino-Maggio⁸, Felysha Jenkins⁹, Chia Vang^{1

10}, Derrick J Morton^{11

12}, Haysetta Shuler¹³, Sandra A Murray¹⁴, Steven Damo⁵, Zer Vue¹, Antentor Hinton Jr¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
² Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
³ Collaborative for STEM Education and Outreach, Department of Teaching and Learning, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
⁴ Department of Biology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
⁵ Department of Life and Physical Sciences, Fisk University, Nashville, TN, USA.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, Cleveland Early College High School, Shelby, NC, USA.
⁷ Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, USA.
⁸ McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁹ Department of Basic Sciences, Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Vanderbilt School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA.
¹⁰ Counseling Department, New Highlands University, Las Vegas, NM, USA.
¹¹ Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, Department of Biomedical Science, Pasadena, CA, USA.
¹² Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
¹³ Department of Biological Sciences, Winston-Salem State University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Cell Biology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

Abstract

Underrepresented faculty have higher burnout rates and lower grant attainment rates when compared with their non-minority counterparts. Many in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) disciplines, including underrepresented individuals, often have difficulty dedicating time to the writing process, with trainees often being relegated to laboratory tasks in their training years, resulting in a lack of practice in academic writing. Notably, past studies have shown that grant attainment rates of underrepresented individuals are lower than their majority counterparts. Here, we sought to consider a mechanism targeted to underrepresented individuals, although applicable to everyone, to help overcome traditional barriers to writing in STEMM. The authors have hosted a writing accountability group (WAG) that uniquely provides a format focused on physical activity and different forms of writing to strengthen both career development and award/funding attainment. Our objectives were to evaluate this unique format, thus creating a resource for individuals and institutions to learn about WAGs and expand upon the framework to formulate their own WAG. To do this, we performed a small pilot study (n = 21) to investigate attitudes towards the WAG. We present the results of a survey conducted among underrepresented WAG participants, which spanned different career stages and was highly diverse demographically. Our results show that following attendance of our WAG, individuals did not note a significant change in scales pertaining to John Henryism (high-effort coping), resilience, sense of belonging, or grit. However, significant increases were noted in the self-perceived ability to handle stress, confidence in applying for awards, appreciation for mentoring, and satisfaction of WAGs. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that our unique WAG format can have some positive results as a career and writing development opportunity and may be able to support underrepresented individuals in attaining funding at higher education institutions.

Keywords: Grants; Mentorship; STEMM; Underrepresented faculty; Writing accountability groups.

Grants and funding

T32 DK007563/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/United States