Ethnicity-related stereotypes and their impacts on medical students: A critical narrative review of health professions education literature

Figures & data

Figure 1. Phenomena that will be used as a framework through which to review the impacts of ethnicity-related stereotype in medical education.

Figure 2. Flowchart of the literature search and study selection process for the critical narrative review. Articles were included if they described [1] an ethnicity-related stereotype on medical students AND its impact, OR [2] a social psychological theory that explained the impact of an ethnicity-related stereotype on medical students. Articles that were not related to HPE were excluded.

Table 1. An alphabetical list of the studies that described ethnicity-related stereotypes about medical students in health professions education literature.

Author, Year (Study ID)	Country	Literature type	Ethnicity of medical students	Ethnicity-related stereotypes in health professions education
(Kupiri Ackerman-Barger et al., 2015)	USA	Perspective: Expert opinion	Underrepresented minority medic (URM) students (defined here as African Americans, Latinos/as, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, and members of such Asian groups as Vietnamese, Hmong, and Cambodian)	‘[URM students] are less capable’
(Kupiri Ackerman-Barger et al., 2016)	USA	Mixed-methods study	African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native-American, or White students	‘People of color are not as smart’
(Beagan 2003)	Canada	Mixed-methods study	Minority and non-minority students	‘White students…[are] what patients expect to see’ ‘Chinese people are seen as…not really social’
(Bullock and Houston 1987)	USA	Qualitative study	Black Medical Students	‘Black students were felt to be intellectually inferior to whites.’
(Bullock et al. 2020)	USA	Mixed-methods study	Black, Latinx, Middle Eastern, Asian, and multiracial students	‘The trope of an angry Black woman’ ‘[Latinx students] are getting in because of affirmative action’
(Burgess et al. 2010)	USA	Review	URM students (defined here as blacks, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and mainland Puerto Rican) and White students	‘[URM students] are dumb’
(Claridge et al. 2018)	UK	Qualitative study	Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) medical students	‘Angry Black woman’
(Erwin et al. 2002)	USA	Qualitative study	African American students	‘[African Americans] are dumb’ ‘[African Americans] are not good enough’
(Isaac 2019)	USA	Perspective: Expert opinion	URM students (defined here as Black, Latinx, and non-majority Asian students)	‘The Angry Black Wo/man.’
(Lempp and Seale 2006)	UK	Qualitative study	'non-White' students	‘[Black students] have to justify [their] intelligence all the time’
(Liebschutz et al. 2006)	USA	Qualitative study	Black medical students	‘[Black students] are not as good’
(Morrison et al. 2019)	UK	Qualitative study	Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students	‘foreign’ ‘[Black students]… labelled as aggressive or intimidating’ ‘[Asian students]’ choice to study medicine was to conform to their parents’ wishes rather than internal motivation’
(Roberts et al. 2008)	UK	Qualitative study	White British and Ethnic Minority students	‘Asian people…won’t be working in a team’
(Woolf et al. 2008)	UK	Qualitative study	Asian and White medical students	‘Asian student was viewed as conscientious, hardworking, and bright…over-reliant on books…inflexible and less able to adapt to new ways of behaving…a poor communicator…shy, quiet, reserved, and under-confident…likely to be studying medicine to conform to their parents’ wishes’ ‘White students were perceived…as being autonomous learners who were dedicated and self-motivated; were tough but sociable team players…confident, outspoken, and good communicators’

Information is provided about the ethnicity of the medical student population and evidence of the ethnicity-related stereotypes referenced in the text. The ethnicity-related stereotypes listed here reflect what we have identified as stereotypes NB. USA: United States of America; UK: United Kingdom.

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