First-year medical students mapped in-groups, exclusion, and curricular support
Samantha Stasiuk, Maria Hubinette, Laura Nimmon
Canadian Medical Education Journal
Network design
Nodes
seven focal first-year medical students and the 61 people they placed in their personal social and support maps
Ties
participant-defined interpersonal connections representing meaningful peer, family, faculty, or other support relationships
Methods
Researchers used participant-drawn sociograms to elicit network structure and then thematically analyzed semi-structured interviews, interpreting group boundaries, access, exclusion, and the role of formal reflection sessions.
Source: Canadian Medical Education Journal
Reviewed summary
Seven first-year medical students created personal sociograms containing 61 alters and discussed them in semi-structured interviews. The qualitative network analysis identified in-grouping and exclusivity, while curriculum reflection sessions sometimes introduced perspectives beyond students' usual circles. The work shows how qualitative network mapping can make hidden experiences of belonging and exclusion discussable without reducing support to a centrality score.
Tight peer groups provided belonging but could also create exclusivity; structured curriculum sessions offered occasional bridges to different experiences and viewpoints outside those in-groups. This was a qualitative study of seven volunteers and 61 named alters at one medical school. Personal maps reflect participant meaning rather than a complete sociocentric network, and the study cannot estimate prevalence or show that reflection sessions caused enduring network change.
SNA
How SNA was used
The study defined seven focal first-year medical students and the 61 people they placed in their personal social and support maps as nodes and participant-defined interpersonal connections representing meaningful peer, family, faculty, or other support relationships as ties. Researchers used participant-drawn sociograms to elicit network structure and then thematically analyzed semi-structured interviews, interpreting group boundaries, access, exclusion, and the role of formal reflection sessions.
Source
Canadian Medical Education Journal, 13(5), 44-53
DOI: 10.36834/cmej.73422
