From Theory to Action: Evaluation of a Longitudinal Project-Based Antiracism Course for Post-Graduate Physicians

Few opportunities exist for postgraduate physicians to learn to address racism in their professional practice. We created a virtual, 5-session antiracism course that included the development of a formal action project to address racism at participants' home institution.

We delivered this curriculum virtually to 2 cohorts (2021 and 2022) of postgraduate physicians, nationally. The curriculum had 3 educational aims: (1) to increase knowledge on antiracism, (2) to increase comfort and engagement in discussing antiracism at home institutions, and (3) to increase self-efficacy to execute an institution-based project. Theory-informed practice, community building, and project-based learning were used to achieve our educational aims. We analyzed changes in these domains in addressing racism using matched 7-item Likert-scale questions from pre- and post-course surveys and the Wilcoxon signed rank test. We assessed perceptions and impacts of the course with post-course survey items using descriptive statistics.

Forty-three of 50 participants (86%) who completed pre- and post-course surveys were included in the analysis. We found pre-post course increases in mean scores (converted from Likert scales), for all 15 paired questions. For example, we found improvements in understanding the historical context of racism in medical institutions (mean score change: 5.12 [SD 1.00] to 6.42 [SD 0.76], P < .001), comfort in talking to colleagues about racism (5.21 [SD 1.08] to 6.19 [SD 0.70], P < .001), and capacity to address racism in patient care at their home institution (4.51 [SD 1.35] to 5.56 [SD 0.91], P < 0.001). 93% reported the course increased the likelihood of working to address racism at their institution.

This project-based antiracism course for postgraduate learners increased self-reported knowledge of, comfort with, and self-efficacy in addressing racism and was well received by participants.