Investigation of Professional Coaching as an Intervention to Support the Success of URG Biomedical Ph.D. Students

项目摘要：多样性提高了在所有领域进行研究的能力，但尤其重要 用于生物医学研究，这对我们改善国家健康的努力至关重要。尽管几十年来持续 努力，NIH首席调查人员中只有不到2%是黑人，低于 医学院校的就诊率远远低于普通人群。西班牙裔和其他人也是如此 代表性不足的组(URG)。因此，迫切需要新的、有创意的解决方案来促进 生物医学URGs实习生的进步。在这里，我们建议将个性化专业教练作为一种可扩展的 和有效的干预。辅导是一种由受过专业训练的教练帮助被辅导者阐明 抱负，增强自我意识，制定计划，采取行动实现目标，克服挑战。 在许多不同的学术环境中进行的教练研究表明，自我效能感和 心理健康，这是持续的学术成功所必需的。然而，专业教练从来没有 被严格测试为生物医学博士生的干预措施，这是一个重大的知识缺口。 使用假设驱动的研究，我们将检验以下假设：获得 个性化的学术辅导将体验到更好的短期结果(例如，自我效能感、韧性、 减少焦虑和抑郁)和持续的积极影响(学位持久度、目标实现、放松 职业转变和有形的学术产出)与他们的控制组相比。罗格斯大学的一个跨学科团队 在生物医学博士教育和培训、多样性、公平和包容性(DEI)、专业人士方面拥有深厚的专业知识 教练、心理健康、生物统计学和严格的混合方法教育研究将检验这一假说。 在以下三个目标中。为了重现性，所有实验将在两个机构进行：罗格斯-新 布伦瑞克(R-NB)和罗格斯-纽瓦克(R-N)。这些实验将是一个学年(AY)-长时间和利用 国际教练联合会(ICF)认可的教练。URG和有良好代表性(WR)的学生将 随机分配到控制组(无教练)或试验组(教练)。在目标1中，经过验证 工具将以统计方式衡量职业教练对目标的短期和中期影响 成就、自我效能和心理健康(焦虑、抑郁、韧性)。作为一种补充方法， 混合方法将决定什么收获，它们是如何发生的，以及它们最适合哪些学生群体 已经宣布了。我们的假设将首先在R-NB检验，然后在R-N检验。在目标2中，教练元素 导致成功的定义包括：i)剂量(频率、持续时间)和ii)罗格斯大学教职员工的功效 作为ICF教练接受培训。在目标3中，将衡量长期影响(例如，获得学位的时间、职业转变、自我 效率和弹性)。拟议的创新研究将产生很大的影响，不仅是测试第一次 评估指导是否是有效和可扩展的干预措施，但也要确定关键要素 它需要在各机构之间实施，以解决劳动力中持续存在的URG差距。

PROJECT SUMMARY: Diversity improves the ability to conduct research in all fields, but is especially crucial for biomedical research, essential to our efforts to improve the health of the nation. Despite decades of sustained effort, fewer than 2 percent of NIH primary investigators are Black, lower than the percentage of Black faculty at medical schools and much lower than the general population. The same holds true for Hispanics and other underrepresented groups (URGs). New, inventive solutions are thus urgently needed to promote the advancement of biomedical URGs trainees. Here we propose individualized professional coaching as a scalable and effective intervention. Coaching is a practice where a professionally trained coach helps the coachee clarify aspirations, increase self-awareness, establish plans, take action to achieve goals, and overcome challenges. Coaching research in a number of different academic settings has demonstrated improved self-efficacy and mental health, which are needed for sustained academic success. However, professional coaching has never been rigorously tested as an intervention for biomedical Ph.D. students, which is a significant gap in knowledge. Using hypothesis-driven research, we will test the following hypothesis: Biomedical Ph.D. students who receive individualized academic coaching will experience improved short-term outcomes (e.g., self-efficacy, resilience, reduced anxiety and depression) and sustained positive effects (degree persistence, goal attainment, ease in career transitions, and tangible scholarly outputs) compared to their controls. An interdisciplinary team at Rutgers with deep expertise in biomedical Ph.D. education and training, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), professional coaching, mental health, biostatistics, and rigorous mixed-methods educational research will test this hypothesis in the following three aims. For reproducibility, all experiments will be conducted at two institutions: Rutgers-New Brunswick (R-NB) and Rutgers-Newark (R-N). The experiments will be an academic year (AY)-long and utilize International Coaching Federation (ICF)-accredited coaches. URG and well-represented (WR) students will be randomly assigned to either control (no coaching) or experimental groups (coaching). In Aim 1, validated instruments will statistically measure short- and medium-term effects of professional coaching on goal attainment, self-efficacy and mental health (anxiety, depression, resilience). As a complementary approach, mixed methods will determine what gains occur, how they occur, and for what student populations they are most pronounced. Our hypothesis will be first tested at R-NB and then at R-N. In Aim 2, the coaching elements that lead to success will be defined including: i) dosage (frequency, duration) and ii) efficacy of Rutgers faculty/staff trained as ICF coaches. In Aim 3, long-term effects will be measured (e.g., time to degree, career transition, self- efficacy, and resilience). The proposed innovative research will have high impact by not only testing for the first time whether coaching is an efficacious and scalable intervention, but by also identifying the key elements needed for its implementation across institutions to address ongoing URG disparities in the workforce.