Dataset Information

Promoting Persistence in the Biological and Medical Sciences: An Expectancy-Value Approach to Intervention.

ABSTRACT: A wide range of occupations require science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills, yet almost half of students who intend to pursue a post-secondary STEM education abandon these plans before graduating from college. This attrition is especially pronounced among underrepresented groups (i.e., racial/ethnic minorities and first-generation college students). We conducted a two-year follow-up of a utility-value intervention that had been implemented in an introductory biology course. This intervention was previously shown to improve performance in the course, on average and especially among underrepresented students, reducing the achievement gap. The goal of the present study was to examine whether the intervention also impacted persistence in the biomedical track throughout college. The intervention had a more positive impact on long-term persistence for students who were more confident that they could succeed at the beginning of the course, and this effect was partially driven by the extent to which students reflected on the personal relevance of biological topics in their essays. This mechanism was distinct from the process that had been found to underlie intervention effects on performance - engagement with course material - suggesting that utility-value interventions may affect different academic outcomes by initiating distinct psychological processes. Although we did not find that the intervention was differentially effective for underrepresented students in terms of persistence, we found that positive effects on performance were associated with increased persistence for these students. Results suggest that utility-value interventions in an introductory course can be an effective strategy to promote persistence in the biomedical sciences throughout college.

SUBMITTER: Hecht CA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6884362 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Promoting Persistence in the Biological and Medical Sciences: An Expectancy-Value Approach to Intervention.

Hecht Cameron A CA Harackiewicz Judith M JM Priniski Stacy J SJ Canning Elizabeth A EA Tibbetts Yoi Y Hyde Janet S JS

Journal of educational psychology 20191101 8

A wide range of occupations require science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills, yet almost half of students who intend to pursue a post-secondary STEM education abandon these plans before graduating from college. This attrition is especially pronounced among underrepresented groups (i.e., racial/ethnic minorities and first-generation college students). We conducted a two-year follow-up of a utility-value intervention that had been implemented in an introductory biology cours ...[more]

PMID: 31787779

Similar Datasets

Project description:Medical students and doctors have to be particularly stress-resilient, as both medical education and practice are considered very stressful. Specific stressors can lead to increased risks of developing, for example, depression, anxiety and burnout. Relaxation techniques have proven to be effective for the prevention of these outcomes in student populations. However, only a very few medical students practice relaxation techniques regularly early on in their studies. Furthermore, it is unclear which students make use of stress-management offers and hence whether vulnerable students are generally reachable. Therefore, the aim of our study was to explore predictors of participating in a voluntary stress management course for sophomore medical students. One cohort of freshmen at a German medical school was surveyed at the end of the freshman year [t1] and at the end of the sophomore year [t2]. In addition to sociodemographic information, we captured perceived study stress, self-rated general health and mental health and dimensions of study-related behaviour and experience as potential predictors of participation at t1. During the sophomore year, we offered the participants a progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) beginners' course. At t2, we registered participation status. We used binary logistic regression analyses in order to assess correlations between potential predictors and participation. About one third of the whole class took part in the course. The main reason for non-participation was "no time". Being female and higher levels of anxiety were the strongest predictors of course participation. Career ambition (the higher, the less likely to participate) and emotional distancing (the higher, the more likely to participate) were further significant predictors. Future interventions should be attractive to both male and female medical students. Ideally, for every hour of stress management teaching, the curriculum should be cut by at least the same amount of time.

Dataset Information

Promoting Persistence in the Biological and Medical Sciences: An Expectancy-Value Approach to Intervention.

Publications

Promoting Persistence in the Biological and Medical Sciences: An Expectancy-Value Approach to Intervention.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets