Belonging Uncertainty in Health Professions Education: A Heuristic Inquiry into Minoritized Learners’ Experiences

Belonging is a fundamental human need that supports feeling connected, safe, valued, and accepted within learning environments. Inclusion and belonging are associated with positive educational outcomes, including academic engagement, motivation, retention, and overall well-being. However, learners from minoritized identities often face challenges in feeling like they fit in, matter, or truly belong, a phenomenon described as belonging uncertainty. My personal history and experiences as a Black biracial woman have shaped long‑standing questions about where and how I belong. Motivated by these questions, the second author and I surveyed 61 co-researchers, learners from minoritized identities in health professions education, to understand their experiences regarding barriers and facilitators to inclusion and belonging. Using survey findings as a catalyst, I then engaged in heuristic inquiry, a phenomenologically rooted methodology that emphasizes deep personal exploration and meaning-making. Grounded in my own lived experiences as a former minoritized learner and now health professions educator, my analysis comprised a modified, four-phase inquiry: Immersion, Incubation, Illumination and Explication, and Creative Synthesis. Several insights emerged and evolved during my inquiry, including how inclusion and belonging are shaped by relational and structural factors, how resilience develops through navigating moments of challenge, and how belonging uncertainty leads to questions about who is valued and accepted. I outline key implications to foster inclusive and supportive health professions education, including critical reflection and reflexivity on assumptions, beliefs, and social position, the use of equity‑driven pedagogical approaches, and intentional practices that cultivate learning environments where learners feel valued, recognized, and supported.