Two Wright State University professors have received a nearly $750,000 grant to expand an antiracism and social justice training program in the Boonshoft School of Medicine.
The program will utilize a unique form of dialogue to create an understanding between participants. It’s the first time this type of dialogue has been used in the medical field, according to the professors.
Keith Reisinger-Kindle, D.O., an assistant professor and associate program director of obstetrics and gynecology, and Erica Taylor, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics, were the selected professors.
They were awarded $743,769 to further the program. The grant will last three years.
It focuses on something called intergroup dialogue. In it, a small, diverse group will get together and share their perspectives about society and their places in it.
The goal is to foster an understanding of different perspectives, which ultimately could reduce barriers to healthcare.
“It’s not the traditional lecture where you have someone standing and talking to you about a topic that they’re an expert in or they have perspectives on,” Taylor said. “But rather you having an active conversation about society in general and how your place in society is reflected from yourself through the lens of others.”
“It allows them to have more compassionate conversations with patients and family members and friends because they’re able to pause and acknowledge that that could be contributing to the experience of the person sitting in front of them,” Reisinger-Kindle said.
Wright State’s dialogues could include individuals of different races, different sexual orientations, and different sexual identities. Taylor said they want to try and have two participants have a conversation that they may never have had without the dialogue.
“Dialogue in itself is a skill that people have to learn over time because it’s not a debate,” Taylor said. “Debates have winners. It’s not an argument, arguments have emotions in them. This is just information sharing.”
Those who participate do so voluntarily. They will meet 10 times, once a month, for a year. Reisinger-Kindle said the hope is to have 10 trained cohorts ready to go to help run dialogues with this funding.
The grant also allows for Wright State to include regional partners in the program. Discussions are still underway to determine potential partners.
