Perspectives on Encouraging Diversity and Inclusion Among Stroke Rehabilitation Research Teams

Research Objectives: To describe dimensions of personal and professional diversity and inclusion present within a single National Institutes of Health R01 funded stroke rehabilitation research team, using a conceptual, literature-based approach (DHHS, 2022; Hall et al., 2018; Wood et al., 2021). To explore the potential impact of diversity dimensions on the research team’s activities.

Design: Retrospective case series

Setting: An acute rehabilitation center and a university research lab

Participants: Participants included the core team of individuals who are research team members across the two research sites. This non-random sample included 8 research and clinical professionals and 1 doctoral student. Demographic indicators were critical outcome measures for the study and are described further in the results.

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures: 1) Descriptive statistics of the team’s diversity dimensions, 2) Qualitative description of the potential implications of diversity in each dimension in the context of promoting an inclusive research team project

Results: Key results are: 1) the research team demonstrated diversity in several personal and professional dimensions including the following: age, gender, racial/ethnic background, country of origin, disability status, language/dialect spoken, professional specialty, level of expertise, and focus of prior training (research or clinical), and 2) diversity within these dimensions and an inclusive research environment positively impact the execution of the project including protocol training, data collection, and data coding/analysis.

Conclusions: By examining multiple dimensions of personal and professional diversity, stroke rehabilitation research teams may develop strategies to ultimately increase mentorship support and inclusion opportunities for underrepresented rehabilitation scientists and promote successful execution of the research project (Jones-London, 2020; Campbell et al., 2013; Sierra-Mercado & Lázaro-Muñoz, 2018; Steel et al., 2021) .

Author(s) Disclosures: Each of the authors is partially or fully supported by R01DC018569 (PI: Haley) awarded by the National Institutes of Health.