craig cox, pharmd, bcps associate professor, pharmacy practice vice chair, experiential programs

Craig Cox, PharmD, BCPSAssociate Professor, Pharmacy Practice

Vice Chair, Experiential Programs

Shannon Kirkland, MBADirector

West Texas AHEC & Rural Health ProgramsTexas Tech University Health Sciences Center

Identifying Factors that Affect Minority Students’ Interest in

Health Careers

H.O.T. Jobs history

• Started by the Texas AHEC network in 1997 as a printed book• Designed to prepare students for entry into the healthcare field • Historically updated every 3 years• First HOT Jobs website was contributed by the Health Science Education partner in early 2005 as part of 2nd edition—a pdf version of the book with some lesson plan materials• 3rd edition website launched in early 2006, much more graphically oriented and some basic interactive features

The Basics

• Received 2-year $340,000 minority research grant from The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

• Project involved:– Research Component– Web-Development Component

• Collaboration with multiple partners across State of Texas

Research Objectives

• Determine student interest & influences in pursuing education after completion of high school

• Determine student & parent interest and general understanding of health careers

• Compare & contrast different cultural, familial, and socioeconomic influences on student & parent understanding and interest in health careers

• Determine informational needs and message delivery resources that students & parents prefer in obtaining information about education and careers following high school

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

Timeline of Events

• Winter / Spring 2008– Focus groups process begins– Determination of web design / infrastructure

• Summer 2008– Held focus group sessions– Develop student survey

• Fall 2008 / Winter 2009– Disperse student survey / collect-analyze results– Continue web design (modify based on research findings)

• Spring - Fall 2009– Completion of website

PresentationObjectives

• Participants will be able to explain the findings from this study about high school students perceptions of health careers and media usage for career information

• Participants will be able to discuss the applications for these findings in developing resources to meet student and families’ information needs.

• Participants will be able to discuss the challenges and opportunities, as well as processes, for conducting research working with schools and underage students as subjects


Research methods

• Focus groups with high school students and parents

• Survey of high school students• Collaboration with Texas Tech University

College of Mass Communications– Alex Ortiz, PhD– Kent Wilkinson, PhD– Peter Muhlberger– Loni Flores, M.Ed. (TTUHSC F. Marie Hall

Institute for Rural Health)Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

FOCUS GROUPS

Focus group summary

• Focus groups held in Amarillo, Dallas, and El Paso• 2 student focus groups and 1 parent focus group held at each location• Total of 85 participants from diverse backgrounds (i.e. ethnicity, socioeconomic status, etc.)• Parent groups at each location were conducted bilingually


Findings from student focus groups

• The Internet was cited by the majority of students as their primary source of health career information• Students look for information about academic programs that offer healthcare-related majors, financial aid, expected salary, work hours, and length of study


• Students rely on online multimedia features, such as streaming audio and video, to serve as helpful tools in the search process

• Podcasting was not a feature students used or valued

• Students also rely on television programs (Hopkins or Mystery Diagnosis) as sources of information, but state that they recognize that ER and Grey’s Anatomy are not realistic portrayals



• Students talked about the importance of teachers as key sources of health care information• Majority of students cited instructors as their primary source of interpersonal information at school, compared with guidance counselors • Two contributing factors of students going into health care were service and job stability• Students indicated a need for additional mentoring, academic and financial aid information to attend college

Findings from parent focus groups

• Parents in all three locations cited some of the same concerns and needs

– the need for role models for their children, and – presenting health careers in a way that shows how interesting and exciting these careers are

• Parents discussed the financial issues involved in pursuing training and the perception of the huge time commitment involved with a healthcare career—the cost and length of training was a concern: What if my child changes his mind?

Findings from parent focus groups

• There were differences among the parent focus groups

– El Paso parents stated the need to keep kids closer to home

– There was a concern that leaving home would bring their children a new set of problems, including financial and cultural

– El Paso parents in the group had a higher average economic status than the other locations and were much more tech-savvy than the others

STUDENT SURVEYS

Student survey

• Data from students at 24 Texas high schools• High schools are broadly distributed across

the state and across high school types• High school types were defined by subdividing

schools by percent at-risk, low English proficiency, non-Caucasian and economically disadvantaged

• Responses represent 71% of all students in Texas


About the sample

• Sample size: 855• Mean age: 16• % Female: 57%• Ethnicity:

– 35% Caucasian– 46% Hispanic– 8% African-American

• Median father education: some college; Median mother education: high school

• Parental education is well distributed

Analysis method

• Pure Demographic Model


• Contextual + Demographic Model

• Social Network + Contextual + Demographic Model

• Media + Contextual + Demographic Model

Health career motivation

Pure Demographic Model (3%)


Variables Overall Effect

Female Positive

Self-Reported GPA No Effect

Ethnicity No Effect

Age No Effect

Parent Education No Effect


Contextual + Demographic Model (20%)



At Risk % Positive

African-American Negative

Hispanic Negative

Female % Negative


Social Ntwk + Context + Demo (43%)



Talked w/ Mother Positive

Talked w/ Friends Positive

Talked w/ H. Care Provider Positive

Talked to Grandparents Negative

Talked to Counselor No Effect


Media + Context + Demo Model



Library No Effect

Television No Effect

Internet No Effect

News Negative

**How many health career websites the respondent knows does significantly and positively affect motivation and knowledge of healthcare careers**

Research implications


Research Findings Website Modifications

Social network important Developed parent section

Talking to healthcare professionals important

Developed “Professionals in Field”

Mixed impact talking to teachers / counselors

Developed educator section

Website impt, but need multimedia components

Website rich in graphics & interactive formats

Parent Guide

Emphasis on•Why health careers?• Help your child• Get started

Social Network

• Informational to key influencers:• Parents/families and educators• Perspectives from current health

professionals• Social media

• Twitter• Facebook

Professionals in the Field

• Professionals can complete a brief questionnaire online• Profiles are posted for public view after review

Educator Section

Multimedia, Interactivity • Career Interest Inventory

• Career Focus • Career Exploration Modules• Education search map

Opportunities for further study

• Teens’ skills for Internet searches are not sophisticated. Some indications that they are not as skilled as to find the information they need

• Our survey focused on teen perceptions and motivations, but did not have the scope to include comparative parent perceptions about the same issues

• Our findings suggest that, even though Hispanic culture is patriarchal, the mother has more influence in this area


CHALLENGES

IRB Challenges

• Multiple Institutions– Choose most rigorous IRB

• Population <18 years of age

• Incentives for students/institutions

• Understand IRB guidelines

Focus Group Challenges

• Consider language barriers

• Consider ethnicity of groups– Mix vs. Ethnicity-specific

• Consider technology / facility issues

• Consider timing of sessions

• Create “positive” learning environment

Student Survey Challenges

• Diversity of requirements for gaining school participation

• Difficulty in finding “ideal” time to conduct surveys

• Delays in response were common

• Consider strategy / incentive to convince school of importance of research

• Find “one” contact person at institution

Summary

• Development of tools for students, parents, and educators are needed

• Important to get to know your audience – through focus groups, student surveys, etc…

• Things take time, don’t assume you can accomplish overnight

• Be willing to “roll with the punches” when conducting research

Contact us

Craig CoxTTUHSC School of Pharmacy

[email protected] p. 806.743.4200

Shannon KirklandTTUHSC F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural & Community Health

[email protected] p. 806.743.1338

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Partners and contributors

• TTUHSC School of Pharmacy• TTUHSC F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and

Community Health, West Texas AHEC Program

• TTU College of Mass Communications• AHEC of the Plains• East Texas AHEC Program (UTMB)

– DFW AHEC (UT Southwestern), Piney Woods AHEC (Stephen F. Austin University), and Pecan Valley AHEC (Victoria College)


QUESTIONS

craig cox, pharmd, bcps associate professor, pharmacy practice vice chair, experiential programs

Documents

student focus groups

health careersh

parent groups

minority students

student parent understanding

underage students

students parents

majority of students