The role of multicultural identity integration on well-being and Biomedical Science pathway persistence

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ABSTRACT Demographic evidence shows that Native students are not integrating into STEM professional communities at the same rate as majority students. While Native people (Native American/Alaskan Native/Native Hawaiian) make up nearly 1% of the U.S. population, they make up only 2,220 (0.3%) of the 595,556 enrolled graduate students in Science and Engineering (S&E) programs, with even smaller percentages persisting to faculty biomedical careers.1 These statistics demonstrate that Native scholars with high interest in STEM careers are not integrating into their professional academic communities, and instead are choosing to leave. Tested theories that help educators better understand the unique challenges and assets of being a Native scholar, as well as effective interventions that support Native scholars to persist in biomedical careers would advance the science of diversifying biomedical education. A common research question is: When do Native scholars with high interest in biomedical careers integrate and persist in their biomedical professional communities at rates equal to majority populations. Most research on Natives in biomedical fields have been qualitative and often focus on negative attributes like stereotype threat and racism. In contrast, the proposed research focuses on positive psychology, highlighting the contextual factors and attributes of Natives that lead to integration and persistence in biomedical professional communities. The first aim of this study utilizes existing data to validate a measure of Receiving Kindness, a contextual factor which affirms social inclusion in biomedical professional communitie. The second aim is to validate a psychosocial measure of professional-and-cultural identity integration as part of the conclusion of a 2-year longitudinal study with Native scholars. In the third aim, the work from the mentored phase will be expanded through a 9-month longitudinal study, where using my personal network of university Native science and engineering student support programs across the nation, Native biomedical students (N=40), Native biomedical professionals (N=40), non-Native biomedical students (N=40) and non- Native biomedical professionals (N=40) will be compared to understand the relationship between professional-and-cultural identity integration and receiving kindness on persistence in biomedical professional communities for Native biomedical students. Previous research suggests that while Native people come from diverse ecosystems and have diverse traditions, Native people share in common the experience of having US policy encourage them, sometimes violently, to abandon their Native identities. This research seeks to understand how Native scholars are impacted when they find themselves receiving kindness and how this relates to their ability to hold an integrative identity in which being Native and being a biomedical scientist are in harmony.