Policies and Practices for Supporting Family Caregivers in STEM: Advancing Inclusive Excellence in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic

2019冠状病毒病大流行加剧了肩负家庭照顾责任的STEM学生和专业人员面临的挑战，同时也增加了解决长期问题的紧迫感。研究表明，2019冠状病毒病大流行对承担家庭照顾责任的STEM专业人员的职业生涯产生了重大影响，如果不采取循证行动，科学事业可能会看到女性，特别是有色人种女性从这些领域进一步流失。为了满足这一需求，美国国家科学院、工程院和医学院将开展一项全面的共识研究，概述有前途的创新政策和实践，以支持STEM学生和专业人士承担家庭照顾责任，包括照顾孩子和/或照顾老人。该研究将研究疫情如何导致STEM领域的人员流失增加，以及晋升为领导角色的机会不平等等影响，并最终形成一份报告，为学术界和政府领导人提供循证指导，指导他们如何实施公平的政策和计划，以支持承担家庭照顾责任的STEM学生和专业人员的保留、再入和晋升。该研究将采用有意交叉的方法，并考虑多重身份（如种族、性别、年龄）的交叉如何影响照顾责任的性质和程度。该研究还将调查交叉身份如何影响旨在支持工作与生活平衡的政策和实践的获取和影响。该研究将探讨当前在这一问题上的政策拼凑，并详细介绍促进STEM文化变革的策略。它还将确定需要在学术和政府部门内部和之间加强协调的领域。为了开展这项研究，美国国家科学院将组建一个多学科的特设专家委员会。该委员会将包括各种各样的个人，他们在领导和评估支持STEM家庭照顾者和工作与生活平衡的有效政策、实践和计划方面发挥了重要作用。美国国家科学院还将寻求来自工业和组织心理学、人力资源管理、劳动法、经济学和其他相关研究领域的顶尖学者和研究人员的代表。委员会将对已发表的、同行评议的和灰色文献进行全面审查，并将通过原始定性数据收集和案例研究分析加以补充，以解决现有研究中的差距。委员会的工作将由几次公开信息收集会议以及委员会将起草报告的闭门会议审议提供信息。该报告将在出版和传播之前通过美国国家科学院的审查程序。这项研究利用了美国国家科学基金会和美国国立卫生研究院、美国国家标准与技术研究所、多丽丝·杜克慈善基金会、亨利·卢斯基金会和美国国家航空航天局（待定）的资金。美国国家科学基金会对这项研究的支持来自STEM教育理事会（EDU）、STEM卓越平等司（EES）、ADVANCE: STEM学术职业性别平等的组织变革和综合活动办公室。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The COVID-19 pandemic has served to exacerbate the challenges facing students and professionals in STEM with family caregiving responsibilities, while also creating a greater sense of urgency to address longstanding issues. Research indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the careers of STEM professionals with family caregiving responsibilities and that without evidence-based action the scientific enterprise could see additional attrition of women, especially women of color, from these fields. To respond to this need, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will carry out a comprehensive consensus study that will outline promising and innovative policies and practices for supporting STEM students and professionals with family caregiving responsibilities, including childcare and/or eldercare. The study will examine how the pandemic may be contributing to increased attrition from STEM fields and inequities in opportunities for advancement into leadership roles, among other impacts, and will culminate in a report that will provide leaders in academia and government with evidence-based guidance on how to implement equitable policies and programs to support the retention, re-entry, and advancement of STEM students and professionals with family caregiving responsibilities. The study will take an intentionally intersectional approach and consider how the intersection of multiple identities (e.g. race, gender, age) can affect the nature and extent of caregiving responsibilities. The study will also investigate how intersectional identities affect access to and impact of policies and practices intended to support work-life balance. The study will explore the current patchwork of policies on this issue and detail strategies to promote culture change in STEM. It will also identify areas where greater coordination within and across the academic and governmental sectors is needed. To carry out this study, the National Academies will assemble a multidisciplinary, ad hoc committee of experts. The committee will include a diverse range of individuals recognized for their roles leading and evaluating effective policies, practices, and programs for supporting family caregivers and work-life balance in STEM. The National Academies will also seek representation from leading scholars and researchers in industrial and organizational psychology, human resource management, labor law, economics, and other relevant fields of study. The committee will carry out a comprehensive review of the published, peer-reviewed and grey literature, which will be augmented by original qualitative data collection and case study analysis to address gaps in the available research. The committee’s work will be informed by several public information-gathering meetings, as well as by closed session deliberations during which the committee will draft the report. The report will then go through the National Academies review process before publication and dissemination. The study leverages NSF funds with funds from NIH, NIST, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Henry Luce Foundation, and NASA (pending). NSF support for the study comes from the Directorate for STEM education (EDU), the Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM (EES), ADVANCE: Organizational Change for Gender Equity in STEM Academic Professions, and the Office of Integrated Activities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.