Racial Affinity Caucuses (RACs) as Anti-Racist Pedagogy in an Epidemiology Course.

Abstract

The University of Washington Department of Epidemiology launched a quarterly virtual anti-racism journal club in spring 2020. After two quarters, students expressed concerns that white students dominated discussions. Students and instructors worked together to amplify the voices of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students using racial affinity caucuses (RACs) as a pedagogical intervention before classroom discussions. We used the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) to examine intervention process and determinants as described by students via anonymous course evaluations and the Public Health Critical Race Praxis (PHCRP) to identify "how is racism operating here?" across CFIR domains. On a scale of zero to five (0: Very Poor, 5: Excellent), the overall course effectiveness was rated just below 'Excellent' (average: 4.8), while the effectiveness of RACs was rated just below 'Very Good' (average: 3.7). Student comments endorsed the RAC intervention as a CFIR innovation that effectively supported BIPOC students while acknowledging the barriers and facilitators of its implementation. Student and instructor flexibility, humility, courage to engage in praxis, and willingness to learn from failure were essential to implementation. Yet, students rated the course and RAC intervention highly, suggesting that anti-racism praxis can foster classroom learning in an epidemiology classroom.