Perceived discrimination and symbolic violence in a health sciences faculty

Abstract

Introduction: Discrimination is defined as the unequal treatment of people based on membership in groups such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexuality, or socioeconomic status. Objective: To identify the perception of discrimination in a health sciences faculty in Colombia in 2024. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted using primary data from undergraduate and postgraduate clinical students, faculty, and administrative staff. Two hundred and ten participants were selected using stratified cluster sampling with random selection proportional to the population size. Univariate analyses were performed, presenting relative frequencies along with their corresponding confidence intervals. The perception of discrimination was also compared with each of the analyzed variables using prevalence ratios with their respective confidence intervals. Results: Of the 210 participants, the majority were female, from higher socioeconomic strata, and reported having a partner. Fourteen percent of the participants identified as homosexual or bisexual, and 2.8% reported having a disability. It was observed that 5 out of 10 participants perceived some type of discrimination, with age, physical appearance, political opinions, sex, and socioeconomic status being the most frequent. Discrimination increased among people who identified as homosexual, students, and those who had experienced situations of violence such as having information withheld, being humiliated or ridiculed, being assigned unpleasant tasks, having gossip or rumors spread, or even being ignored. Conclusion: These situations created an environment that facilitates and increases discrimination in educational settings; therefore, it is crucial to identify these behaviors and prevent their normalization in order to reduce all forms of discrimination.