Purpose
Like all American institutions, the values of medical education are rooted in patriarchal understandings, and fail to account for the many roles, socialization and experiences of women (Acker, 1990; Sharma, 2019). One such value is how schools define and determine success. This definition drives the types of initiatives and supports that students receive. Researchers have long noted that students, especially students from historically marginalized backgrounds, often define success differently from their academic institution, leading to a mismatch between student success initiatives, and student needs. With more women than men entering medical school and the lingering patriarchal roots of the field, it is important to understand and support the needs of women medical students. The purpose of this study is to understand how women perceive their success in medical school. By hearing from women directly, I hope to complicate the field’s understanding of student success to provide medical schools with a robust understanding of how to better support women students in all aspects of their growth.
Methods
This is a qualitative study guided by phenomenological methodology. I engaged in purposive sampling and conducted three in-depth interviews with each participant to understand how they were socialized to view success in medical school, and how that view interacted with the school's definition. Additionally, I engaged in document analysis, and observations of key meetings to observe how the school operationalized its definition of success. Data was analyzed using multiple levels of thematic coding.
Results
Initial results indicate that women medical students may perceive success differently than their institution. Specifically, women see success as being more rooted in learning and receiving respect than in the traditional standardized tests.
Conclusions
Because women view success differently than their schools, schools should work to account for this difference by providing supports that will benefit all students.