Work-Family Balance and Academic Advancement in Medical Schools (original) (raw)

Abstract

Objective

This study examines various options that a faculty member might exercise to achieve work-family balance in academic medicine and their consequences for academic advancement.

Method

Three data sets were analyzed: an anonymous web-administered survey of part-time tenure track-eligible University of Illinois College of Medicine (UI-COM) faculty members conducted in 2003; exogenous data regarding the entire UI-COM faculty; and tenure rollback (“stop-the-clock”) usage by all tenure track-eligible UI-COM faculty from 1994 to 2003.

Results

The data reveal a gender split in career-familybalance priorities that affect academic advancement among part-time faculty. Women select part-time status for child care; men choose part-time to moonlight. Similarly, among all faculty members seeking tenure rollbacks women request rollback for child care; men request rollback for other reasons. Among all faculty members, full-time men were more likely to be on the tenure track than any other group. Needs identified by the part-time faculty survey include improved mentoring in track selection, heightened awareness of options such as tenure rollback and provision of equitable benefits and opportunities.

Conclusions

Policy changes, such as a prorated tenure track, are needed to support a family-friendly culture with flexibility throughout the career lifespan for both men and women medical faculty.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Education, Chicago, USA
    Alan Schwartz Ph.D. (Associate Professor, Senior Research Specialist)
  2. Department of Pediatrics, Shorewood Hills, USA
    Alan Schwartz Ph.D. (Associate Professor, Senior Research Specialist)
  3. College of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago, USA
    Geri Fox M.D., M.H.P.E. (Director of Graduate Medical Education Programming, Director of Psychiatry Undergraduate Medical Education, and Professor of Clinical Psychiatry), Alan Schwartz Ph.D. (Associate Professor, Senior Research Specialist) & Katherine M. Hart M.P.H. (Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs (retired)

Authors

  1. Geri Fox M.D., M.H.P.E.
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  2. Alan Schwartz Ph.D.
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  3. Katherine M. Hart M.P.H.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Geri Fox M.D., M.H.P.E..

Additional information

This article incorporates research findings from Dr. Fox’s Master’s in Health Professions Education thesis, Department of Medical Education, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2004.

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Fox, G., Schwartz, A. & Hart, K.M. Work-Family Balance and Academic Advancement in Medical Schools.Acad Psychiatry 30, 227–234 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ap.30.3.227

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