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Graduation Term
Summer 2026
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Department of Educational Administration and Foundations
Committee Chair
Perry Schoon
Committee Co-Chair
Lenford Sutton
Committee Member
Ryan Smith
Abstract
This study examined how Black medical students interpret faculty representation and mentorship in relation to vulnerability to attrition within medical education. While prior research has documented disparities in persistence and representation, much of this work has focused on structural conditions and aggregate outcomes. Less attention has been given to how students themselves experience and make meaning of these conditions.
Using a post-intentional phenomenological approach, this study explored the lived experiences of Ethnic Black American (EBA) and Naturalized Black American (NBA) medical students. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and analyzed to examine how meanings of belonging, mentorship, and persistence emerged across institutional contexts.
Findings indicate that faculty representation and mentorship are not experienced as static institutional features but as relational and interpretive processes shaped through everyday interactions. Participants described mentorship as a mechanism of access, affirmation, and navigation within medical education, while also highlighting variation in how these experiences were interpreted across EBA and NBA groups. Persistence emerged as a negotiated process influenced by financial strain, institutional climate, and relational support rather than solely individual determination.
This study contributes to the literature by centering meaning-making, disaggregating Black student experiences, and reframing persistence and attrition as interpretive processes. Implications suggest that efforts to improve outcomes in medical education may benefit from moving beyond numerical diversity metrics toward more relational, culturally responsive, and context-aware approaches to mentorship and institutional support.
Access Type
Dissertation-ISU Access Only
Recommended Citation
Smith, Stephen A., "Black Medical Students' Interpretations of Faculty Representation and Mentorship in Relation to Attrition: A Post-Intentional Phenomenological Study" (2026). Theses and Dissertations. 2388.
https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/etd/2388