The impact of role and race on overall climate in dental schools

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to determine if faculty, staff, administrators and administrators with faculty appointment experienced overall climate differently and if there were differences by race within each of these role categories. METHODS: Items related to inclusion, climate, harassment and discrimination were selected from the dental education-wide ADEA Climate Survey to represent these four constructs. Responses from four different role groups (faculty/n = 4026, staff/n = 2597, administrators/n = 360 and administrators with faculty appointment/n = 443) were analyzed. A one-way ANOVA test followed by the Tukey post hoc test compared the different groups on these measures. RESULTS: Staff in dental schools scored the lowest on inclusion and climate as compared to all other groups (faculty, administrators, and administrators with faculty appointment), and they reported more experiences of discrimination. Administrators with faculty appointments scored the highest on inclusion and climate. There were also no significant differences by race for this group. For all other three groups (faculty, staff, administrators), there were significant differences in overall experience of climate, with Blacks, Asians and Hispanics scoring lower on climate and wellbeing. CONCLUSION(S): Role and race influence experience of climate. There is a definite power hierarchy dynamic at play, and it impacts how one experiences the dental school climate. Frameworks of racial battle fatigue, intersectionality, and antiracism should be widely explored and implemented across oral health professions education to counter the results of this first-ever, dental education-wide climate study.