Analysis of Narrative Text in Evaluations of Continuing Medical Education Faculty by Gender

JAMA Network Open (08/22/22) Santhosh, Lekshmi; Rojek, Alexandra E.; Yim, Joanne W. L.; et al.

An analysis of gender bias in continuing medical education (CME) faculty assessments considered University of California, San Francisco-sponsored national CME conferences on internal medicine and subspecialties between 2015 and 2019. The authors reviewed 38,026 faculty evaluations of 2,149 CME lectures, including 21,557 evaluations for male faculty and 16,469 for female faculty. Female speakers scored higher than male speakers in syllabus content and practical application, while presentation delivery scores did not differ significantly between genders. Advice-giving comments were included in 60% of female speakers' evaluations and 55% of male speakers' assessments. The authors observed similarity between the most used adjectives overall and within gender groups. Quantitative ratings and adjective frequency exhibited no significant gender-based differences. There was subjective distinction within the contextual use of certain adjectives, some of which may have negative implications. "When comparing frequencies of evaluations that included advice-giving, we found that female speakers were significantly more likely than male counterparts to receive advice, although further work is needed to clarify whether such comments were constructive feedback or biased criticism," the authors note.

Read More