TY  - BOOK
AU  - Giladi, Aviram M
AU  - Hawken, Jessica B
AU  - Kraenzlin, Franca
AU  - Sanghavi, Kavya K
AU  - Schaefer, Eliana J
TI  - Evaluating Language Characteristics and Related Gender Bias in Letters of Recommendation for Hand Surgery Fellowship
SN  - 0363-5023
PY  - 2023///
KW  - IN PROCESS -- NOT YET INDEXED
KW  - Curtis National Hand Center
KW  - MedStar Health Research Institute
KW  - MedStar Union Memorial Hospital
KW  - Orthopedics
KW  - Journal Article
N1  - Available in print through MWHC library: 1999 - 2002, Available online from MWHC library: 1995 - present
N2  - CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Because programs look to train the next generation of hand surgeons, alerting letter readers to trends in implicit bias may help in the selection of qualified applicants. Bringing topics of implicit bias forward may help writers think more critically about word choice and topics. Copyright © 2023 American Society for Surgery of the Hand. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved; CONCLUSIONS: Letters of recommendation written for female residents applying to hand fellowship had more references to anxiety but were written with higher clout and more words of affiliation. Subgroup analysis looking at orthopedic and plastic surgery applicants separately found a mixed picture. Overall, these LORs written for applicants to hand fellowship had no notable specific patterns of gender bias in our analyses; METHODS: This was a retrospective study of all LORs submitted to a hand surgery fellowship program between 2015 and 2020. Demographic data about applicants and letter writers were collected. Linguistic analysis was performed using a text analysis software, and results were evaluated with nonparametric tests, multiple linear regression models, and a mixed effects regression model; PURPOSE: Letters of recommendation (LORs) function as an indicator of competence and future potential for a trainee. Our purpose was to evaluate gender bias in hand surgery fellowship applicant LORs; RESULTS: Letters of recommendation were analyzed; 720 letters for 188 (23.4%) female applicants and 2,337 letters for 616 (76.6%) male applicants. Compared with LORs written for men, those written for women had more references to categories of anxiety (eg, worried and fearful) and affiliation (eg, ally and friend). Letters for women had more "clout." In subgroup analysis, letters for female plastic surgery applicants had more words signaling power, whereas recommendations for female applicants from orthopedic residencies had more words related to anxiety, achievement, work, and leisure
UR  - https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhsa.2023.01.003
ER  -