Imagining Possibilities in Post-Secondary education and STEMM in Rural Appalachia

项目摘要 农村阿巴拉契亚是一个医疗服务不足的地区，其居民经历了重大的医疗保健 差距。由于阿巴拉契亚农村社区的孤立性， 尤其重要。因此，吸引居民从这些地区的生物医学，行为， 临床研究工作人员可能对减少该地区严重的健康差距至关重要。 然而，我们不能假设增加科学和数学相关的兴趣和技能就足够了。 来吸引本地区的学生从事这些职业。全国范围内，来自低收入家庭的高中毕业生， 少数民族较少的乡村学校（阿巴拉契亚的大部分地区）的大学入学率最低 (44%;全国学生信息交换中心[NCS]，2015年），提出了与高等教育有关的障碍和支持。 除了与科学有关的障碍和支持之外，还必须解决一般教育问题， 技术，工程，数学和医学科学（STEMM）相关的职业。我们的长远目标是 这一努力是为了制定有效的干预措施，减少这些背景障碍， 支持和兴趣，在中学后教育一般和科学、技术、工程和数学，特别是 阿巴拉契亚的年轻人我们的目标是确定这种多方面的干预在多大程度上 战略导致追求本科STEM学位的意愿增加。我们的假设是 经历过这种干预的学生， 社会认知因素，以及他们与学生相比追求中学后学位的意图 不受这种干预。我们的具体目标是：1）增加科学身份，以及自我- 效能感、结果期望信念和与上大学和STEM相关的兴趣; 2）教学技能 帮助学生克服障碍，增加对追求中学后教育的支持， STEMM职业生涯; 3）确定多个项目经验对大学入学的附加效应 的信仰。我们将使用一个紧密匹配的对照组来比较那些接受 对那些不这样做的人进行干预。实现这些目标将为学校提供具体的工具 在阿巴拉契亚的农村地区，也许还有其他农村地区，用来增加他们的学生人数， 具备加入高增长的生物医学和临床研究行业所需的技能 劳动力

Project Summary Rural Appalachia is a medically underserved area whose residents experience significant healthcare disparities. Because of the insular nature of rural Appalachian communities, change from within is particularly important. Thus, attracting residents from these areas to the biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research workforce may be essential for reducing the critical health disparities in the region. However, we cannot assume that increasing science and math-related interest and skills will be sufficient to attract students from this region to these careers. Nationwide, high school graduates from low-income, low-minority, rural schools (which describes much of Appalachia) have the lowest college enrollment rate (44%; National Student Clearinghouse [NCS], 2015), suggesting barriers and supports related to higher education in general must be addressed in addition to barriers and supports related to science, technology, engineering, math, and medical science (STEMM) related careers. Our long-range goal in this effort is to develop efficacious interventions that reduce these contextual barriers and increase supports for and interest in both post-secondary education in general and STEMM in particular among Appalachian youth. Our objective is to determine the extent to which such a multifaceted intervention strategy leads to increased intentions to pursue an undergraduate STEMM degree. Our hypothesis is that students who experience such interventions will show increases in these important intrapersonal social-cognitive factors and in their intentions to pursue a postsecondary degree compared to students not exposed to such interventions. Our specific aims are to 1) Increase science identity, as well as self- efficacy, outcome expectation beliefs, and interests related to college-going and STEMM; 2) Teach skills to help students navigate barriers and increase supports for pursuing post-secondary education and STEMM careers; and 3) Determine the additive effects of multiple program experiences on college-going and STEMM beliefs. We will use a closely-matched comparison group to compare students who receive the interventions with those who do not. Achieving these aims will provide concrete tools for schools across rural Appalachia, and perhaps other rural regions, to use to increase the number of their students equipped with the skillsets required to join the high-growth biomedical and clinical research industry workforce.