A Qualitative Study of Residency Faculty Motivations, Skills, and Preparedness to Facilitate Racial Affinity Caucusing

Racism pervades the medical system, contributing to health inequities, lack of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) entering medical education, and poor retention of BIPOC physicians. Racial affinity caucusing (RAC) is a tool to address and dismantle cultural and institutional racism by providing space for individuals with shared racial identities to engage in conversations about their racialized identities and experiences. Little is published on RAC facilitation and training. The authors aimed to evaluate an RAC facilitator training program. Program directors from 32 residency programs nominated 12 faculty for RAC facilitation training, and all participated in virtual trainings and RAC sessions from September 2021 to March 2022. Training consisted of foundational concepts of anti-racism and RAC, and practice co-leading an RAC session. All 12 participated in semistructured interviews. Interview transcripts were evaluated for identified themes. This qualitative study used directed content analysis to discern patterns and cross-walked code categories with constructs from social cognitive theory. Interview transcripts for all 12 participants, who included 7 BIPOC faculty and 5 White faculty, were reviewed to discern patterns. Patterns were coded revealing themes for participants' motivations and perceived benefits of facilitator training, critical skills needed for successful facilitation, and resources necessary to implement RAC at home institutions. In addition to identifying motivations for participation in training, key skills and resources for successful facilitation were identified, including small group facilitation, managing one's own emotions, understanding principles of anti-racism, and practice and debrief of RAC facilitation.