title: Exploring community faculty members' engagement in educational scholarship.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To obtain a deeper understanding of community faculty members' perceptions about engagement in educational scholarship.
  
  
  METHODS
  One-on-one semistructured interviews that were audiorecorded, transcribed verbatim, and subsequently analyzed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Toronto, Ont.
  
  
  METHODS
  Purposive, theoretical sample of 8 physician faculty members at the University of Toronto.
  
  
  METHODS
  Interview transcripts were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Emergent themes were identified by the research team through a process of constant comparative analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Community faculty members identified themselves professionally as clinicians and teachers, and they did not see themselves as scholars in medical education. While they believed that educational scholarship was important for the field more broadly, they did not see the personal or professional value of being involved. This attitude stemmed from the perception that there was not a direct link between scholarly activity and improvement in teaching or patient care. Instead, participants viewed scholarly activity as a mode of career advancement rather than practice improvement. Furthermore, they equated educational scholarship with clinical research, thereby excluding themselves from participation in scholarly activities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  When developing strategies to engage community faculty members in educational scholarship, it is important to consider the implications of members' professional identity, as well as implicit models of scholarship. To expand the concept of educational scholarship beyond research activities, additional scholarly contributions need to be supported, recognized, and valued.
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and Director of Foundations in the MD Program at the University of Toronto in Ontario. marcus.law@utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Law
authors.affiliation: Research Scientist at Michael Garron Hospital in Toronto, Education Scientist at the Centre for Ambulatory Care Education, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.affiliation: Scientist at the Wilson Centre in Toronto, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Toronto.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mylopoulos
mesh_terms: D004501:Education, Medical; D005180:Faculty, Medical / Q000193:education*; D005257:Fellowships and Scholarships; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D009864:Ontario; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D014495:Universities