Development and Evaluation of a Virtual Privilege Walk Activity

Privilege walks can encourage self-reflection about privilege but may cause discomfort among participants as they observe disparities between one another. This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of a teaching activity that included an anonymous virtual privilege walk to encourage students to reflect on privilege as a concept in health care.

A total of 30 privilege walk statements were developed and incorporated into a virtual privilege walk to allow students to confidentially view their results compared to the whole cohort. The virtual privilege walk and a reflective activity were undertaken by first-year student pharmacists. Students completed a 16-item inclusiveness and oppression survey before, immediately after, and 9 months following the activity. The survey was designed to measure 4 factors: (1) confidence in knowledge and understanding of inclusiveness; (2) awareness of inclusiveness and oppression; (3) opinions on pharmacy counseling and congruence between pharmacist and client; (4) opinions on pharmacists' roles in promotion and support of inclusiveness.

When comparing paired data before and after the teaching activity, there was a significant increase in factors 1, 2, and 4, but a decrease in factor 3 postactivity compared to preactivity. Data from students who completed the survey again 9 months after the activity showed an increase in factor 1, no change in factors 2 and 4, and a continued decrease in factor 3.

Confidence in knowledge and understanding of inclusiveness, awareness of inclusiveness, and opinions on the pharmacists' role in supporting inclusiveness were all improved after students participated in and reflected on the privilege walk.