Cross-Cultural Mentorship in Military Family Medicine: Defining the Problem

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Mentorship is critical to physician recruitment, career development, and retention. Many underrepresented in medicine (URiM) physicians experience minority taxes that can undermine their professional objectives. Use of cross-cultural mentoring skills to navigate differences between non-URiM and URiM physicians can make mentorship relationships with URiM physicians more effective. This survey examined military family physician demographics and mentorship practices. Methods: Design and Setting: Cross-sectional study using voluntary, anonymous data from the 2021 Uniformed Services Academy of Family Physicians (USAFP) Annual Meeting Omnibus Survey. Study Population: USAFP Members attending 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting. Intervention: None. Statistical analysis: Descriptive statistics and χ2 tests. Results: The response rate to the omnibus survey was 52.9%, n=258. More than half of respondents did not have a URiM mentee and had not collaborated with a URiM colleague on a scholarly activity within the last 3 years. Only 54.7% of respondents could recognize and address minority taxes. URiM physicians were more likely to have a URiM mentee (65.4% vs 44.4%, P=.042) and to recognize and address minority taxes (84.6% vs 51.3%, P=.001). They also were more confident (84.6% vs 60.3%, P=.015) and more skilled in discussing racism (80.8% vs 58.2%, P=.026). Conclusions: Structured programs are needed to improve knowledge and skills to support cross-cultural mentorship. Additional studies are needed to further evaluate and identify implementation strategies.