Educating Students about Personal Privilege through an Interactive Modified Privilege Walk: A Quality Improvement Study

There is a growing need for pre-health professional students to understand how the social determinants of health (SDOH) affect population health. The goal of this project was to evaluate the impact of a modified “Privilege Walk” (MPW) activity on students’ awareness of personal privilege as a SDOH. Undergraduate students engaged in a MPW activity received a privilege score that could total 36 points (higher score indicates more privilege). Students also completed a pre- and post-MPW survey to evaluate the impact of the activity on privilege awareness. Nonparametric tests were used to determine the impact of the MPW assignment on privilege outcomes. Twenty-one students completed the pre- and post-surveys. The majority of respondents were White (85.7%), non-Hispanic (90.5%), or female (81.0%). Ethnicity (1.14 points, p=0.052), race (0.71 points, p=0.0078), and current housing conditions (0.70 points, p=0.0273) were the top characteristics students felt gave them significantly more privilege. We demonstrated that an interactive approach in the classroom can increase students’ awareness about privilege as a SDOH. These are promising findings as academic centers seek to evaluate and develop promising and evidence-based approaches to train healthcare students about the SDOH as they treat diverse and vulnerable patients.