Assistant Professor University of Colorado School of Medicine Westminster, Colorado, United States
Background: Opportunities for career development (CD) is a key driver of career satisfaction among pediatric hospitalists. A local needs assessment of early career pediatric hospitalists found CD opportunities lacking. To address this, a novel year-long CD program, “Steppingstones,” was implemented in Fall 2021. Curriculum development was informed by self-determination theory, which states that the basic psychological needs (BSN) of autonomy, competence, and relatedness must be satisfied to achieve motivation, engagement, and well-being. Steppingstones aimed to improve self-efficacy and professional fulfillment of participants through focus on core values and foundational skills including career planning, promotions, mentorship, and networking. Early quantitative assessment showed improvement in CD skills but was insufficient for understanding the overall impact of program participation. Objective: To explore the factors influencing the impact of Steppingstones participation and the interaction between the curriculum impact and satisfaction of the BPNs described in self-determination theory. Design/Methods: We performed a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews of participants after program completion. We inductively identified themes from interview transcripts through an iterative approach and resolved discrepancies by consensus. Themes were organized into domains based on our research question. We then deductively analyzed data for manifestation of the BPNs. Results: All 9 members of our first cohort participated. Analysis yielded 13 themes, organized into 3 domains: outcomes, programmatic modulators of outcome achievement, and participant characteristics modulating outcome achievement. Themes related to program outcomes included enhancement of personal clarity, personal empowerment, personal growth, and network. Modulating program characteristics were program philosophy, program set-up, program content, and relationship building. Modulating participant characteristics were status and trajectory of career, comparison of self, personality, prior degree of connection, and identified need. Themes and subthemes were mapped to BPNs (Figure 1).
Conclusion(s): Steppingstones positively impacted participant professional development through focus on the individual, core values, foundational skills, and relationships. Those lacking clarity and seeking support derived the most benefit. Participation enhanced BPN satisfaction, suggesting self-determination may be an effective conceptual framework for CD programs. Additional study is needed to directly link BPN satisfaction to professional fulfillment. Slide1.jpeg
