Evaluating an Anti-Racism Training for Healthcare Workers

Racism permeates and is upheld by institutions such as healthcare, with deleterious impacts for patients and
healthcare workers. Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH)–a regional health authority—has more than 29,000 workers
providing services to over 1.25 million people. They will be piloting an anti-racism training they created for workers
as part of their larger Anti-Racism Action Plan. Prior research has highlighted the importance of evaluating anti-racism
trainings. This project seeks to evaluate whether participating in an anti-racism training increases
participants’ knowledge and awareness of institutional racism, integration of skills (e.g., confidence to intervene
when witnessing racism), and feelings of workplace psychological safety immediately after the training and 8 weeks
later. Additionally, do participant characteristics such as race and baseline concerns about racism impact the
effectiveness? Results of this study will inform future iterations of the anti-racism training that will be used in the full
rollout. An effective anti-racism training has the potential to improve VCH’s workplace climate, increase retention
and promotion of racialized minorities, and better health outcomes for patients.

Faculty Supervisor:

Nancy Sin

Student:

Partner:

Vancouver Coastal Health

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program: