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

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，这对我们改善国民健康至关重要。尽管几十年来， 努力，只有不到2%的NIH主要研究人员是黑人，低于黑人教师的比例。 医学院和比一般人群低得多。同样适用于西班牙裔和其他 代表性不足的群体。因此，迫切需要新的创造性解决方案来促进 促进生物医学URG受训人员的发展。在这里，我们提出个性化的专业教练作为一个可扩展的 有效的干预。教练是一种实践，一个受过专业训练的教练帮助被教练澄清 愿望，提高自我意识，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，自我效能感得到了提高， 心理健康，这是需要持续的学术成功。然而，专业教练从来没有 作为生物医学博士的干预措施进行了严格的测试。学生，这是一个重大的知识差距。 使用假设驱动的研究，我们将测试以下假设：生物医学博士。学生谁收到 个性化的学术辅导将经历改善的短期结果（例如，自我效能，韧性， 减少焦虑和抑郁）和持续的积极影响（程度持久性，目标实现， 职业转换，和有形的学术产出）相比，他们的控制。罗格斯大学的一个跨学科团队 在生物医学博士方面有着深厚的专业知识。教育和培训，多样性，公平和包容（DEI），专业 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设 以下三个目标。为了重现性，所有实验将在两个机构进行：Rutgers-New 不伦瑞克（R-NB）和罗格斯-纽瓦克（R-N）。实验将是一个学年（AY）长，并利用 国际教练联合会（ICF）认证的教练。URG和代表性良好（WR）的学生将 随机分配到控制组（无指导）或实验组（指导）。在目标1中，经验证 工具将统计衡量短期和中期的影响，专业教练的目标 成绩、自我效能和心理健康（焦虑、抑郁、复原力）。作为一种补充办法， 混合方法将决定什么收益发生，他们如何发生，以及他们是什么学生群体最多 宣布我们的假设将首先在R-NB，然后在R-N进行测试。在目标2中， 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，时间学位，职业过渡，自我- 的韧性（resilience）。拟议的创新研究将产生很大的影响，不仅是测试第一个 时间是否辅导是一个有效的和可扩展的干预，但也确定关键要素 需要在各机构实施这一战略，以解决劳动力队伍中持续存在的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.