As the Principal Investigator of this independent research project, I wanted to explore the intersections of mentorship and LGBT undergraduates at UCLA seeking a career in health care.

1. Mentorship Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
(LGBT) Undergraduate Students Pursuing Health Careers
Jeffrey O. Wong1, Shannon Dunlap2, Ian W. Holloway2, and Thomas J. Coates3
1UCLA Institute of Society and Genetics, 2Department of Social Welfare, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs
3Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Background
Research Questions
! Several studies have documented that LGBT youth have
difficulty accessing resources to optimize their success
because they lack mentors with similar identities. [1]
! In STEM fields, fear of negative career consequences (such
as exclusionary behavior) keep LGBT people from disclosing
their sexual orientation or gender identity. [2]
! Isolation, discrimination, and lack of social support in medical
fields were associated with diminished academic interest and
overall career satisfaction. [3]
! Effective mentorship attends to cultural aspects of a mentee
and is connected to identity development, psychological
support, social support, academic support, sense of
belonging, and leadership development. [4]
! The Lavender Health Alliance (LHA) is a student group
primarily for LGBT undergraduates interested in pursuing a
health-related career and provides mentorship opportunities
with LGBT graduate students.
! Can UCLA LGBT-identifying undergraduate students
pursuing health-related careers access mentorship?
! Does mentorship impact career development amongst
these students?
! What are the barriers and facilitators to establishing
mentorship relationships among this population?
Methods
Participants
! Recruitment emails were sent to STEM-departmental listservs
and relevant (LGBT and/or health-related) student groups and
announcements on relevant Facebook pages. Flyers were
posted throughout campus in relevant academic buildings.
Measures
! The demographics assessed include sexual orientation,
gender identity, race, year in school, major, and career goals.
! The 38 question, psychometrically sound survey instrument on
SurveyMonkey had participants evaluate their experiences with
the intersections of LGBT identity, academic careers, and
mentorship at UCLA.
! Two confidential focus groups, that were a subsample of seven
participants each, lasted approximately 57 - 85 minutes.
Analysis
! Analyzed survey data using SPSS and focus group transcripts
using Atlas.ti.
! Thematic analyses focused on codes related to LGBT identity
and STEM fields, mentorship and career, mentorship and
academics, mentorship and accessibility, and mentorship and
personal gains.
Summary
! About 29.9% of participants agreed or strongly agreed that
they had sufficient mentorship to pursue a health related
career.
! LHA participants showed a statistically significant advantage
over non-LHA participants when reporting about access to
STEM mentors (LGBT-identified and/or not).
! The majority of participants answered “No” on every question
about involvement with the university’s LGBT community.
Discussion
Acknowledgements
This research is supported by a scholarship from UCLA’s Office
of Interdisciplinary & Cross Campus Affairs and a UCLA Library
Research Poster Grant for the poster printing, and is advised by
Dr. Ian W. Holloway and Dr. Thomas J. Coates.
I don’t know how I feel about science. I don't know if it’s like the right
thing for me, but after talking to my mentor – to my MedGLO mentor –
it’s like really helped me like solidify my passion in like helping people.
And um it like made me more certain that I wanna be like involved in
mental health services in the future. (LHA participant)
I think it’s always just nice to have someone to support you, and to
believe in you. And I think the most valuable thing a mentor could
really give is that emotional support. (non-LHA participant)
Mentorship related to career
development and emotional
wellbeing.
Facilitators to mentorship
I think finding an LGBTQ mentor is more easily accessible if you’re
already personally out. For me, coming to UCLA I was already out, and
so it was easy to find an LGBTQ identified mentor.
(LHA participant)
Barriers to accessing
mentorship, including poor
access and lack of visibility.
I feel like coming to UCLA I did pursue clubs or groups that were
LGBT oriented however I think that there was a lack of visibility of
programs where they’d have mentorship umm so I think because of
that I like gave up on the idea of having a mentor really quickly.
(LHA participant)
In focus groups, participants
described the following:
! A majority of LGBT-identifying undergraduate students who
are pursuing health-related careers do not have access to
mentorship.
! Mentorship with an LGBT-identified mentor in the STEM fields
provides greater confidence and clarity about the future and
career goals.
! Participation in structured programs for LGBT STEM
mentorship, like the Lavender Health Alliance, provides a
greater belief in the accessibility to LGBT-identified and/or not
mentors in the STEM fields.
! Facilitators to mentorship include having courage to be out
and having spaces or organizations available for students.
! Barriers to mentorship include the fear of coming out and
LGBT identities not being widely visible or communicated.
Moving Forward
! With the majority of this population not involved in the
university’s LGBT resources, universities must identify and
promote ways to encourage students to be more involved.
! It is not required that LGBT students access the university’s
LGBT resources, but it is important for their academic careers
that resources such as mentorship are available to create a
more inclusive academic environment.
References
[1] Mallory, C., Sears, B., Hasenbush, A., & Susman, A. (2014). Ensuring Access to Mentoring Programs for LGBTQ Youth. The
Williams Institute, 1-26. Retrieved March 14, 2016, from http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Access-to-Youth-
Mentoring-Programs.pdf.
[2] Patridge, E. V., Barthelemy, R. S., & Rankin, S. R. (2014). Factors Impacting the Academic Climate for LGBQ STEM Faculty.
Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 20(1), 75-98. doi:10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2014007429
[3] Sanchez, N. F., Rankin, S., Callahan, E., Ng, H., Holaday, L., McIntosh, K., . . . Sanchez, J. P. (2015). LGBT Trainee and Health
Professional Perspectives on Academic Careers-Facilitators and Challenges. LGBT Health, 2(4), 346-356. doi:10.1089/lgbt.
2015.0024
[4] Boyer, K. E., Thomas, E. N., Rorrer, A. S., Cooper, D., & Vouk, M. A. (2010). Increasing technical excellence, leadership and
commitment of computing students through identity-based mentoring. Proceedings of the 41st ACM Technical Symposium on
Computer Science Education - SIGCSE '10, 167-171. doi:10.1145/1734263.1734320
It’s difficult because the community is so small and a lot of the time
everyone is in the closet, so…you can’t really know and I feel like we’re
in a society right now, where we’re not at that point where we can
openly tell or just ask someone like “Hey. Do you identify as LGBT”
without having someone be offended…So I feel like that’s one of the
reasons why I don’t actively seek or even like to think about seeking an
LGBT mentor. (non-LHA participant)
Results
Access to a Mentor in the STEM fields
(Mean Accessibility Scores: 1 = Not
Accessible, 10 = Very Accessible)
Participant’s involvement with
the university’s LGBT ___
I would tell anyone to seek out the spaces...I eventually found an
organization where I’m comfortable um at being identified as being
LGBT, um yeah so just seek it out. (non-LHA participant)