Pushing Past Clichés: Latina and Black Women’s Perceptions of the Dietetics Major and Profession during Career Exploration

ABSTRACT

Diversity in dietetics, like other health professions, has remained stagnant despite the increase of racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States. We examined how Latina and Black women, enrolled in a university outreach program, make sense of a critical media literacy program during career introduction to dietetics. Our findings revealed that the women did not identify with the dietetics major and profession due to stereotypical images. Cliché messages were used as a discourse method. The need to explore public discourse to understand identity formation and barriers to entry into health profession careers is discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical media literacy
• critical race theory
• dietetics
• discourse
• health professions
• identity formation