title: Relationship of personal health experiences with interest in health careers among youth from an underserved area.
abstract: Only 10% of health professionals are from racial/ethnic minority groups, and much research has been focused on encouraging minorities to enter a health career. The lack of health workforce diversity has many implications for the effective delivery of care to an increasingly diverse US population. The goal of this analysis is to examine the influence of personal health experiences on interest in a health career. "Personal Health Experiences" is a newly created scaled variable that assesses the influence of direct and indirect health experiences of respondents. In a sample of 134 predominantly minority 10th graders from underprivileged neighborhoods, the scale had adequate psychometric properties (range 1-7; mean 4.44, SD 1.46, median 4.60, Cronbach's alpha 0.72), and multivariate regression modeling revealed that it predicted increased "Interest in Health Careers" (B=0.46, SE 0.10, p<0.01). Future research is needed to determine the role that personal health experiences play in career choices and one's success in health career decisions. Such information could, for example, help to refine health profession recruitment strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral and Community Health, University of Maryland School of Public Health, 10 Center Drive, Room 2B12C, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. Tel 301-496-5805, fax 301-480-9675. atodaro@umd.edu.
authors.forename: Alyssa T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Brooks
authors.forename: Shakira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Washington
authors.forename: Bradley O
authors.initials: BO
authors.lastname: Boekeloo
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gilchrist
authors.forename: Min Q
authors.initials: MQ
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016390:Allied Health Occupations; D002321:Career Choice; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008396:Maryland; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D008611:Mentors