title: A 12-year comparison of students' perspectives on diversity at a Jesuit Medical School.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many studies have assessed perspectives of medical students toward institutional diversity, but few of them have attempted to map changes in diversity climate over time.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aims to investigate changes in diversity climate at a Jesuit medical institution over a 12-year period.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 1999, 334 medical students completed an anonymous self-administered online survey, and 12 years later, 406 students completed a comparable survey in 2011. Chi-square tests assessed the differences in percent responses to questions of the two surveys, related to three identities: gender, race, and sexual orientation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 1999 versus 2011 samples were 46% versus 49% female, 61% versus 61% Caucasian, and 41% vs. 39% aged 25 years or older. Findings suggested improvements in medical students' perceptions surrounding equality 'in general' across the three identities (p<0.001); 'in the practice of medicine' based on gender (p<0.001), race/ethnicity (p=0.60), and sexual orientation (p=0.43); as well as in the medical school curriculum, including course text content, professor's delivery and student-faculty interaction (p<0.001) across the three identities. There was a statistically significant decrease in experienced or witnessed events related to gender bias (p<0.001) from 1999 to 2011; however, reported events of bias based on race/ethnicity (p=0.69) and sexual orientation (p=0.58) only showed small decreases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It may be postulated that the improvement in students' self-perceptions of equality and diversity over the past 12 years may have been influenced by a generational acceptance of cultural diversity and, the inclusion of diversity training courses within the medical curriculum. Diversity training related to race and sexual orientation should be expanded, including a follow-up survey to assess the effectiveness of any intervention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Imran
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mujawar
authors.affiliation: Office of the Dean for Medical Education, School of Medicine, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Matt
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sabatino
authors.affiliation: Office of the Dean for Medical Education, School of Medicine, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ray Mitchell
authors.affiliation: Office of the Dean for Medical Education, School of Medicine, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.affiliation: Office of the Dean for Medical Education, School of Medicine, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Peggy
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Weissinger
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA; mwp23@georgetown.edu.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Plankey
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002410:Catholicism; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011287:Prejudice / Q000639:trends*; D044469:Racial Groups; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000639:trends*; D012737:Sex Factors; D019529:Sexuality; D014495:Universities / Q000639:trends*
keywords: curriculum; diversity; equality; identity; medical students; survey