Implicit and explicit racial prejudice among medical professionals: updated estimates from a population-based study

Area of Science:

• Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Medical and Health Sciences
• Psychology

Background:

• Existing research indicates implicit and explicit anti-Black prejudice among US physicians.
• Limited understanding exists regarding racialized prejudice variations between physicians, non-physician healthcare workers, and the general population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the associations between occupational status (physician vs. non-physician healthcare worker) and implicit and explicit prejudice towards various racial/ethnic groups.
• To compare prejudice levels among healthcare workers and the general population.
• To investigate the role of demographic characteristics in explaining these associations.

Main Methods:

• Utilized ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models with data from Harvard's Project Implicit (2007-2019).
• Analyzed implicit (N=1,500,268) and explicit (N=1,429,677) prejudice data.
• Controlled for demographic characteristics and used STATA 17 for statistical analysis.

Main Results:

• Physicians and non-physician healthcare workers exhibited higher implicit and explicit anti-Black and anti-Arab-Muslim prejudice than the general population.
• After demographic controls, these differences became non-significant for physicians but persisted for non-physician healthcare workers.
• Demographic controls explained anti-Asian prejudice; both groups showed lower anti-Native American prejudice. White non-physician healthcare workers displayed the highest anti-Black prejudice.

Conclusions:

• Demographic factors largely explained racialized prejudice among physicians but not fully among non-physician healthcare workers.
• Further research is needed to understand the causes and consequences of elevated prejudice in non-physician healthcare workers.
• Acknowledging prejudice is crucial for understanding systemic racism and its role in healthcare disparities.