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Student Perceptions of the Importance of Diversity and Inclusion in Anatomical Dissection Teams: a Two Year Study
Author(s) -
Fox Glenn Michael,
Alsup B. Kathleen
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.04295
Subject(s) - inclusion (mineral) , diversity (politics) , curriculum , ethnic group , medical education , identification (biology) , perception , psychology , cultural diversity , diversity training , dissection (medical) , pedagogy , sociology , medicine , social psychology , biology , ecology , anatomy , anthropology , neuroscience
With the marked increase of diversity and inclusivity teaching initiatives at the University of Michigan, the Division of Anatomical Sciences’ faculty developed a research plan to investigate what aspects of diversity and inclusion are of most importance to students. A pre‐ and post‐survey regarding student perceptions of the importance of diversity and inclusion in anatomical dissection teams was distributed to two cohorts of students in the U‐M DENT 545 (Summer 2018 & 2019). The majority of students considered the Anatomy curriculum to be inclusive, but differed considerably in how important they considered diversity to be within a dissection team. Certain aspects of diversity had notably higher scores for providing positive contributions to a dissection team (race/ethnicity, gender/gender identification, culture, and age), which other aspects scored comparatively lower (political perspective, (dis)ability status, and religious commitments). Additionally, some qualitative comments provided actionable insights on how to improve an inclusive environment.