Fig 1.
The Virtual VSSA program effectively provides participants exposure to the STEMM community.
In the post-survey, participants were asked to what extent they agreed with the statement, "I learned a lot about xxx through the Virtual VSSA seminar series.” This question was posed about (A) STEM disciplines, (B) Ph.D., (C) M.D./Ph.D., and (D) M.D. programs. Students responded on a Likert scale indicating their level of agreement. The number of responses for each category is shown. The median response is indicated with the blue line.
Table 1.
Overall, the program increased a sense of belonging in the STEMM community, postgraduate degree knowledge, and interest in M.D./Ph.D. degree paths.
Fig 2.
While most students started the program with a strong sense of belonging, students with a positive change in the sense of belonging had less prior research experience.
(A) We examined student’s responses to the prompt, "I have a strong sense of belonging with the STEMM community." Responses are shown based on a 5-point Likert scale, with one indicating that they strongly agreed with the statement to five indicating that they strongly disagreed with the statement. The inset is a histogram of the change in values (pre-test minus the post-test value) with the highest bar at 0, indicating no change in response. (B) Demographic information in individuals with positive (improved) “Belonging” change compared with those without a positive change were analyzed using a Chi-squared analysis. (C) The positive (improved) change versus non-positive change in belonging were compared with amount of research experience, no prior experience, one, two, or three or more experiences.
Table 2.
There is a positive association between identifying with the speakers and interest in a career pathway.
Fig 3.
Participation in the virtual VSSA program increases Ph.D., MD, MD/Ph.D. program knowledge.
(A-C) The inset is a histogram of the change in values (pre-test minus the post-test value) with the highest bar at 0, indicating no change in response. Positive changes indicate increased agreement with the statement. (A) First, we examined student responses to the prompt "I have an understanding of the program structure for a Ph.D. program." The average pre-survey response was "neutral," but following the program, most students responded between "agree" to "strongly agree." (see purple highlight line, indicating median value for each survey). (B) Similarly to the prompt "I have an understanding of the program structure for an M.D./PhD program," student pre-survey response was "neutral" however, following the program, most students responded "agree." (C) To the prompt, "I have an understanding of the program structure for an MD program," in the pre-survey, most students responded "agree," but following the program, most students responded, "strongly agree." (D) Finally, we examined only the groups who had a positive change in understanding of the Ph.D., MD/Ph.D., and M.D. programs with positive identification with the groups listed on the first column. There was a positive correlation between a positive change in belonging score with socioeconomically disadvantaged students (P = 0.012).
Fig 4.
Students who had a positive change in STEMM community belonging had a larger increase in Ph.D., MD, and M.D./PhD program knowledge.
(A) Positive STEMM belonging changes have to increase Ph.D. program knowledge, (B) increase M.D./PhD program knowledge, (C) and increase M.D. program knowledge. (D) We compared belonging changes across program knowledge gains and found a positive association between students’ sense of belonging and M.D./PhD and M.D. programs using a chi-squared test of independence.