Perceived social support: A study of genetic counseling graduate students in the United States (US) and Canada.
genetic counseling graduate students
social support
underrepresented populations
Journal
Journal of genetic counseling
ISSN: 1573-3599
Titre abrégé: J Genet Couns
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 9206865
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
08 2023
08 2023
Historique:
revised:
31
01
2023
received:
02
08
2022
accepted:
03
02
2023
medline:
3
8
2023
pubmed:
12
3
2023
entrez:
11
3
2023
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Social support is described as having positive psychological and physical outcomes and offers some protective benefits against mental illness. However, research has not addressed social support for genetic counseling graduate students, although this population is prone to elevated levels of stress in addition to field-specific phenomena like compassion fatigue and burnout. Therefore, an online survey was distributed to genetic counseling students in accredited programs in the United States and Canada to synthesize information about (1) demographic information, (2) self-identified sources of support, and (3) the availability of a strong support network. In total, 238 responses were included in the analysis, yielding a mean social support score of 3.84 on a 5-point scale, where higher scores indicate increased social support. The identification of friends or classmates as forms of social support significantly increased social support scores (p < 0.001; p = 0.006, respectively). There was also a positive correlation between increased social support scores and the number of social support outlets (p = 0.01). Subgroup analysis focused on potential differences in social support for racially/ethnically underrepresented participants (comprising less than 22% of respondents), revealing that this population identified friends as a form of social support significantly less often than their White counterparts; and mean social support scores were also significantly lower. Our study underscores the importance of classmates as a source of social support for genetic counseling graduate students while uncovering discrepancies that exist in social support sources between White and underrepresented students. Ultimately, stakeholders in genetic counseling student success should foster a community and culture of support within a training program (whether traditionally in-person or online) to encourage success among all students.
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
846-856Informations de copyright
© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Genetic Counseling published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of National Society of Genetic Counselors.
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