Asian/Pacific islander women in medical education: Personal and professional challenges

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the complex issues facing Asian/Pacific Islander (API) women students at one Midwestern medical school as they subjectively experience their medical training. Of particular interest was how students navigated family influences, career pl anning, and ethnic and gender stereotypes. Summary: Sixty-five percent of the students reported that their parents exe rted various degrees of encouragement or pressure to enter medicine. The re maining students said that the decision was entirely theirs (20%) or that t he decision had been made for them (15%). Many reported the larger Asian "c ommunity" as a source of influence. A slight majority of students thought t hey were perceived by faculty as being "quiet, " often too quiet. With only 1 exception, all of the students believed that their cultural identity inf luenced their specialty choice. Stressors reported by students centered on competition, achievement, and formation of intimate relationships (i.e., da ting). Conclusions: Medical educators who provide personal and professional suppor t for API women students should be keenly aware of the career, gender, and family issues that emerge at the intersection of API and Euro-American cult ures. Faculty development should include an educational component on issues of concern to API students, men and women. Faculty also need to wrestle wi th the cultural values of "modesty, respect for authority public self-consc iousness, and other directness " as they intersect with assertion as a prim ary value found in Euro-American culture in general and in medical educatio n in particular. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 12(3), 156-163. Copyrig ht (C) 2000 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.