Paying the price? Academic work and parenting during COVID-19

Introduction: The shift to remote working/learning to slow transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has had widespread mental health impacts. We aimed to describe how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the mental health of students and faculty within a health sciences faculty at a central Canadian university. Methods: Via an online survey, we queried mental health in the first four months of the COVID-19 pandemic quantitatively (scale: 1 (most negative)-100 (most positive)) and qualitatively. Results: The sample (n = 110) was predominantly women (faculty 39/59; [66.1%]; students 46/50; [92.0%]). Most faculty were married/common law (50/60; [84.8%]) and had children at home (36/60; [60.0%]); the opposite was true for most students. Faculty and students self-reported comparable mental health (40.47±24.26 and 37.62±26.13; respectively). Amongst women, those with vs. without children at home, reported significantly worse mental health impacts (31.78±23.68 vs. 44.29±27.98; respectively, p = 0.032). Qualitative themes included: “Sharing resources,” “spending money,” “few changes,” for those without children at home; “working at home can be isolating,” including the subtheme, “balancing act”: “working in isolation,” “working more,” for those with children at home. Discussion: Amongst women in academia, including both students and faculty, those with children at home have disproportionately worse mental health than those without children at home.

Mentorship, Sponsorship, and Professional Networking

Creating an ecosystem of mentorship and sponsorship requires institutional commitment and the collaboration of faculty and administrators from diverse backgrounds. From 2012 to 2018, the UC Davis ADVANCE Mentorship and Networking Initiative (MNI) partnered with the campus leadership to implement several programs and activities to support mentorship, sponsorship, and professional networking for STEM women faculty across career levels. During this award period, pilot programs aimed to provide strong mentorship for newly recruited faculty, including scholars affiliated with the Center for Multicultural Perspectives on Science (CAMPOS) as well as mid-career faculty, with the intention of scaling efforts across campus units. MNI committee projects included piloting “Launch Mentoring Committees” for 43 new faculty, support for faculty-led “New Faculty Network” monthly networking mixers, implementation of the Associate Professor Network listserv, annual co-hosting of the Fall Welcome for Women Faculty, and development of the ADVANCE Scholar Award Distinguished Lecture and Networking Reception. Though all MNI programs and activities were well-received, both faculty mentors and mentees evaluated the Launch Mentoring Committees especially positively. This program emerged as a recommended best practice for engaging new faculty and building a sense of community that crosses disciplinary and intersectional boundaries.

Gender-based Barriers in the Advancement of Women Leaders in Emergency Medicine: A Multi-institutional Qualitative Study

Introduction: Leadership positions occupied by women within academic emergency medicine have remained stagnant despite increasing numbers of women with faculty appointments. We distributed a multi-institutional survey to women faculty and residents to evaluate categorical characteristics contributing to success and differences between the two groups. Methods: An institutional review board-approved electronic survey was distributed to women faculty and residents at eight institutions and were completed anonymously. We created survey questions to assess multiple categories: determination; resiliency; career support and obstacles; career aspiration; and gender discrimination. Most questions used a Likert five-point scale. Responses for each question and category were averaged and deemed significant if the average was greater than or equal to 4 in the affirmative, or less than or equal to 2 in the negative. We calculated proportions for binary questions. Results: The overall response rate was 55.23% (95/172). The faculty response rate was 54.1% (59/109) and residents’ response rate was 57.1% (36/63). Significant levels of resiliency were reported, with a mean score of 4.02. Childbearing and rearing were not significant barriers overall but were more commonly reported as barriers for faculty over residents (P <0.001). Obstacles reported included a lack of confidence during work-related negotiations and insufficient research experience. Notably, 68.4% (65/95) of respondents experienced gender discrimination and 9.5% (9/95) reported at least one encounter of sexual assault by a colleague or supervisor during their career. Conclusion: Targeted interventions to promote female leadership in academic emergency medicine include coaching on negotiation skills, improved resources and mentorship to support research, and enforcement of safe work environments. Female emergency physician resiliency is high and not a barrier to career advancement.

Navigating pre-Tenure and COVID-19: A Testimonio of a BIPOC Junior Faculty Mother

The challenges BIPOC junior faculty face when preparing for tenure is not a new phenomenon, however doing so during a global pandemic magnifies these issues and requires us to consider the significant impact this has on earning tenure and promotion. Extent literature on pre-tenure BIPOC women faculty highlight their experiences of isolation and added pressures to perform. Women faculty with children encounter additional challenges as they may feel isolated, guilty about their productivity, and added pressure to prove themselves in the academy. Considering these factors influencing tenure, this testimonio provides a brief account of my experiences as a pre-tenure BIPOC junior faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic. I discuss the time constraints and expectations to maintain productivity, while managing my new full-time role as primary caregiver to my daughter. It concludes with implications for supporting pre-tenure BIPOC junior women faculty during COVID-19 as they prepare for tenure.

Unbroken

In this critical autoethnography, I examine my lived experiences as a Black woman doctoral student during the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. Further, as I recount my academic journey in the wake of assaults to Black life and resulting Black resistance, I discuss the pedagogical interventions of Black women faculty members that made me feel as if my life and work mattered in their classrooms. I revisit spoken word poems and class assignments written between 2015 and 2017 along with news articles documenting national events occurring at the time as relevant texts to help me explore and understand my experiences. I utilize Critical Race Theory as an analytic lens, focusing on the following tenets: persistence of racism, critique of color-evasiveness, and counterstorytelling. I conclude with implications regarding how introducing graduate students to critical theory and methodologies can equip them with the tools to empirically explore and articulate their lived realities. Moreover, I discuss how such explorations can be validating and healing as students navigate particularly challenging academic and sociohistorical contexts. Additionally, I describe how providing students with creative outlets to express themselves in coursework can help them process their experiences and produce material that is humanizing, liberating, and life-giving.