Foundational Ethical Principles of Collaborative Evaluation: Recruitment and Retention of Female Engineers in Health Care.

The field of engineering is a male-dominated one. On another note, there is a great need to increase the efficiencies of the healthcare system, particularly in light of the pandemic. A program was developed at a US university to increase the interest of female engineers to consider entering the healthcare field and to help them stay motivated so they would finish their engineering degrees. This grant-funded effort was evaluated using the Model for Collaborative Evaluations (MCE). The MCE framework has six components that help ensure that an ethical, efficient, and effective evaluation is conducted. At the foundation of the model is the "Follow Specific Guidelines" component that patterns the evaluation team's approach as they determine the program's merit and worth. Both the program and evaluation approach using the MCE proved to be valuable. There was an increase in female engineering students' interest in the healthcare field as well as an increase in motivation to complete their engineering degrees. The model was shown to be robust, and its ethical approach provided the clients with confidence even when there was a change in personnel in the evaluation team. The evaluation was successfully completed on time and within the budget. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]