Jennifer K Lee, Sean Tackett, Kimberly A Skarupski, Kathy Forbush, Barbara Fivush, Maria Oliva-Hemker, Rachel B Levine
{"title":"Inspiring and Preparing Our Future Leaders: Evaluating the Impact of the Early Career Women's Leadership Program.","authors":"Jennifer K Lee, Sean Tackett, Kimberly A Skarupski, Kathy Forbush, Barbara Fivush, Maria Oliva-Hemker, Rachel B Levine","doi":"10.2147/JHL.S470538","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The number of women in high-level leadership in academic medicine remains disproportionately low. Early career programs may help increase women's representation in leadership. We evaluated the Early Career Women's Leadership Program (ECWLP). We hypothesized that participants would rate themselves as having increased confidence in their leadership potential, improved leadership skills, and greater alignment between their goals for well-being and leading after the program. We also explored the participants' aspirations and confidence around pursuing high-level leadership before and after the program.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We surveyed women physicians and scientists before and after they participated in the 2023 ECWLP, consisting of 11 seminars over six months. We analyzed pre- and post-program data using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. We analyzed answers to open-ended questions with a content analysis approach.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>47/51 (92%) participants responded, and 74% answered pre- and post-program questionnaires. Several metrics increased after the program, including women's confidence in their ability to lead (<i>p</i><0.001), negotiate (<i>p<</i>0.001), articulate their career vision (<i>p<</i>0.001), reframe obstacles (<i>p<</i>0.001), challenge their assumptions (<i>p</i><0.001), and align their personal and professional values (<i>p=</i>0.002). Perceptions of conflict between aspiring to lead and having family responsibilities (<i>p=</i>0.003) and achieving physical well-being (<i>p=</i>0.002) decreased. Perceived barriers to advancement included not being part of influential networks, a lack of transparency in leadership, and a competitive and individualistic culture. In the qualitative analysis, women described balancing internal factors such as self-doubt with external factors like competing professional demands when considering leadership. Many believed that becoming a leader would be detrimental to their well-being. Beneficial ECWLP components included support for self-reflection, tactical planning to pursue leadership, and creating a safe environment.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The ECWLP improved women's confidence and strategic plans to pursue leadership in a way that supported their work-life integration. Early career leadership programs may encourage and prepare women for high-level leadership.</p>","PeriodicalId":44346,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Healthcare Leadership","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11298210/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Healthcare Leadership","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2147/JHL.S470538","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose: The number of women in high-level leadership in academic medicine remains disproportionately low. Early career programs may help increase women's representation in leadership. We evaluated the Early Career Women's Leadership Program (ECWLP). We hypothesized that participants would rate themselves as having increased confidence in their leadership potential, improved leadership skills, and greater alignment between their goals for well-being and leading after the program. We also explored the participants' aspirations and confidence around pursuing high-level leadership before and after the program.
Methods: We surveyed women physicians and scientists before and after they participated in the 2023 ECWLP, consisting of 11 seminars over six months. We analyzed pre- and post-program data using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. We analyzed answers to open-ended questions with a content analysis approach.
Results: 47/51 (92%) participants responded, and 74% answered pre- and post-program questionnaires. Several metrics increased after the program, including women's confidence in their ability to lead (p<0.001), negotiate (p<0.001), articulate their career vision (p<0.001), reframe obstacles (p<0.001), challenge their assumptions (p<0.001), and align their personal and professional values (p=0.002). Perceptions of conflict between aspiring to lead and having family responsibilities (p=0.003) and achieving physical well-being (p=0.002) decreased. Perceived barriers to advancement included not being part of influential networks, a lack of transparency in leadership, and a competitive and individualistic culture. In the qualitative analysis, women described balancing internal factors such as self-doubt with external factors like competing professional demands when considering leadership. Many believed that becoming a leader would be detrimental to their well-being. Beneficial ECWLP components included support for self-reflection, tactical planning to pursue leadership, and creating a safe environment.
Conclusion: The ECWLP improved women's confidence and strategic plans to pursue leadership in a way that supported their work-life integration. Early career leadership programs may encourage and prepare women for high-level leadership.
期刊介绍:
Efficient and successful modern healthcare depends on a growing group of professionals working together as an interdisciplinary team. However, many forces shape the delivery of healthcare; changes are being driven by the markets, transformations in concepts of health and wellbeing, technology and research and discovery. Dynamic leadership will guide these necessary transformations. The Journal of Healthcare Leadership is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal focusing on leadership for the healthcare professions. The publication strives to amalgamate current and future healthcare professionals and managers by providing key insights into leadership progress and challenges to improve patient care. The journal aspires to inform key decision makers and those professionals with ambitions of leadership and management; it seeks to connect professionals who are engaged in similar endeavours and to provide wisdom from those working in other industries. Senior and trainee doctors, nurses and allied healthcare professionals, medical students, healthcare managers and allied leaders are invited to contribute to this publication