The Gendered Work/Role of Program Directors in International Graduate Medical Education. (February 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dutta, Debalina; Ibrahim, Halah; Cofrancesco, Joseph; Archuleta, Sophia; Stadler, Dora J.
• Is Part Of: Qualitative health research. Volume 33:Number 3(2023)
• Page Start: 154
• Page End: 164
• Publication Date: 2023-02
• Subjects: program director; -- gender; -- relational dialectics theory 2.0; -- graduate medical education; Health -- Periodicals; Health behavior -- Periodicals; Health -- Research -- Methodology -- Periodicals; Health behavior -- Research -- Methodology -- Periodicals; 610.7205
• DOI: 10.1177/10497323221145832
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1049-7323

Abstract

Healthcare organizations offer numerous clinical and academic leadership pathways for physicians, among which the position of program director (PD) is considered to be a prominent educational leadership role. As PDs are instrumental in the recruitment and training of the next generations of physicians, PD gender distribution can affect the present and future of a medical specialty. This study offers a dialectical perspective in understanding how international PDs negotiate gendered understanding of their work/role by using the framework of Relational Dialectics Theory 2.0. Thirty-three interviews of PDs from Qatar, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates were conducted and, using contrapuntal analysis, the competing discourses of meanings of gender in the PD work/role were examined. Competing discourses where structural, cultural, and professional meanings of gender were interrogated revealed inherent multiple meanings of how gender is understood in PD work/roles. In making sense of these meanings of gender, PDs express dilemmas of traditional gender binaries of masculine/feminine work/role meanings to explain the term in different ways in their everyday organizational and cultural struggles. The findings have implications for PD recruitment and retention in teaching hospitals.