Latinx Students and Residents Leveraging Familial Capital in Medical Education

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 11:45 am - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Latinx Graduate Pathways in STEM and Beyond: Mapping Belonging, Capital, and Cultural Persistence

Abstract

While the U.S. Latinx population has rapidly increased in the past 30 years, the number of Latinx physicians has not kept pace. Barriers prevent Latinx people from successfully navigating the transition to and through medical school. Using an assets-based framework of Community Cultural Wealth (CCW), we explored familial capital, to understand how Latinx learners navigate medical education. Through semi-structured interviews with 20 Latinx medical students and 14 residents, we found a collective familial approach to medical education and family lessons, consejos, and dichos were leveraged to persist along their medical education pathway. Findings from this study may be used to develop support systems and resources to reduce structural inequalities and barriers Latinx students encounter through medical education pathways.

Authors

• Nicole Perez, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Vanessa Pena, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Isabella Perez Pecchio, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Sarah Medina-Aguirre, University of Illinois at Chicago