OBJECTIVES/GOALS: The purpose of this study was to assess if the Mentoring Competency Assessment (MCA) could be used to capture mentee gains in mentorship skills and how the mentorship competencies ...may vary structurally for mentees compared to mentors, while the original MCA was shown to be a validated measure to assess mentor skills. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: The mentee training survey data were collected nationally from 2015 to 2022. The survey data set included 401 respondents who consented to participate after 59 mentee training events hosted by 34 institutions/organizations who participated in face-to-face and online training as well as completed the Mentoring Competency Assessment (MCA) in their surveys. We conducted principal component analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation to investigate the internal structure of the MCA and Hatcher’s criteria were applied. After a team of mentoring experts independently interpreted the PCA results and reached a consensus on the interpretations of the components, factor analysis and internal consistency reliability analysis were applied to assess the construct validity and the reliability. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: There were significant component loadings of the eight components with varimax rotation and 22 of the total 26 items were loaded into components. Four items, (5) pursuing strategies to improve communication, (6) coordinating with other mentors, (11) developing strategies to meet goals, and (23) setting career goals, were excluded from the factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha analysis since these items were not significantly loaded into any components. The eight-component structure was validated (χ 2 =313.209, p<.001, RMSEA=.083, CFI=.907, TLI=.881, SRMR=.073) and the hypothesized model of the eight components resulted in an acceptable fit to the data with standardized factor loadings ranging from 0.58 to 0.93. The alpha coefficient is from 0.58 to 0.90, suggesting the items have high internal consistency. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Based upon the findings we recommend that the full revised MCA for mentees is used to capture mentees’ mentorship skill gains even if not all of the competency modules are used in the training. The development and validation of measures such as the MCA are important as we move toward the use of common measures across programs such as the CTSAs.
Using social-cognitive career theory, we identified the experiential sources of learning that contribute to research self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, and science identity for culturally ...diverse undergraduate students in science, technology, engineering, and math (i.e., STEM) majors. We examined group differences by race/ethnicity and gender to investigate potential cultural variations in a model to explain students' research career intentions. Using a sample of 688 undergraduate students, we ran a series of path models testing the relationships between the experiential sources, research self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, and science identity to research career intentions. Findings were largely consistent with our hypotheses in that research self-efficacy and outcome expectancies were directly and positively associated with research career intentions and the associations of the experiential sources to intentions were mediated via self-efficacy. Science identity contributed significant though modest variance to research career intentions indirectly via its positive association with outcome expectations. Science identity also partially mediated the efficacy-outcome expectancies path. The experiential sources of learning were associated in expected directions to research self-efficacy with 3 of the sources emerging as significantly correlated with science identity. An unexpected direct relationship from vicarious learning to intentions was observed. In testing for group differences by race/ethnicity and gender in subsamples of Black/African American and Latino/a students, we found that the hypothesized model incorporating science identity was supported, and most paths did not vary significantly across four Race/Ethnicity × Gender groups, except for 3 paths. Research and practice implications of the findings for supporting research career intentions of culturally diverse undergraduate students are discussed.
Public Significance Statement
Results of this study demonstrated some ways that research-related learning experiences are related to the research career intentions of undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) students and how these experiences may be different for African American and Latino/a men and women. It may be useful to consider the different research learning experiences of historically underrepresented groups in academic and career interventions aimed at supporting their research career intentions toward the larger goal of diversifying the STEM workforce.
There is growing evidence for both the need to manage work-life conflict and the opportunity for mentors to advise their mentees on how to do this in an academic research environment.
A multiphase ...approach was used to develop and implement an evidence-informed training module to help mentors guide their mentees in issues of work-life conflict. Analysis of existing data from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a mentor training curriculum (n = 283 mentor/mentee dyads) informed the development of a work-life mentoring module which was incorporated into an established research mentor training curriculum and evaluated by faculty at a single academic medical center.
Only 39% of mentors and 36% of mentees in the RCT indicated high satisfaction with the balance between their personal and professional lives. The majority (75%) of mentors and mentees were sharing personal information as part of the mentoring relationship which was significantly associated with mentees' ratings of the balance between their personal and professional lives. The effectiveness of the work-life module was assessed by 60 faculty mentors participating in a mentor training program at an academic medical center from 2013 to 2017. Among the respondents to the post-training survey, 82.5% indicated they were very/somewhat comfortable addressing work-life issues with their mentees as a result of the training, with significant improvements (p = 0.001) in self-assessments of mentoring skill in this domain.
Our findings indicate that a structured training approach can significantly improve mentors' self-reported skills in addressing work-life issues with their mentees.
Past work shows religion’s effect on women’s career decisions, particularly when these decisions involve work-family conflict. This study argues that the religious context of a geographic area also ...influences women’s solutions to work-family conflict through more or less pervasive normative expectations within the community regarding women’s roles and responsibilities to the family. We use the American Community Survey linked with community-level religious proportions to test the relationship between religious contexts and women’s participation in the labor force in the contiguous United States–2054 census geographic areas. Using spatial analysis, we find that community religious concentration is related to the proportion of women who choose not to work. Communities with a higher proportion of the population belonging to conservative religious traditions also have a greater proportion of married women choosing not to work outside the home.
Research in the sociology of work has long considered the importance of individual worker values but has not considered one of the central sources of those values: the congregation. In this study, we ...examine this understudied relationship and propose greater theoretical specification on religious capital. We argue that religious capital, like social capital, may have bridging characteristics. We introduce the concept of workplace-bridging religious capital (WBRC) and describe its cultivation within congregations. Using data from a survey of 1,000 fulltime workers, we test the relationship of WBRC (measured with a 15-item Congregational Faith at Work Scale, CFWS) to workplace commitment, job satisfaction, and entrepreneurial behavior. While CFWS alone is not significantly related to workplace commitment or job satisfaction, the interaction of CFWS and church attendance is significant for all three workplace outcomes. Thus, the influence of congregational beliefs on work attitudes and practices is contingent upon an individual's level of involvement in the congregation. This study builds on the growing body of literature that identifies religious influences in nonreligious domains of everyday life.
Using social cognitive career theory, we identified the experiential sources of learning that contribute to research self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, and science identity for culturally ...diverse undergraduate students in STEM majors. We examined group differences by race/ethnicity*gender to investigate potential cultural variations in a model to explain students’ research career intentions. Using a sample of 688 undergraduate students, we ran a series of path models testing the relationships between the experiential sources, research self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, and science identity to research career intentions. Findings were largely consistent with our hypotheses in that research self-efficacy and outcome expectancies were directly and positively associated with research career intentions and the associations of the experiential sources to intentions were mediated via self-efficacy. Science identity contributed significant though modest variance to career intentions indirectly via its positive association with outcome expectations. Science identity also partially mediated the efficacy-outcome expectancies path. The experiential sources of learning were associated in expected directions to research self-efficacy with three of the sources emerging as significantly correlated with science identity. An unexpected direct relationship from vicarious learning to intentions was observed. In testing for group differences by race/ethnicity*gender in subsamples of Black/African American and Latino/a students, we found that the hypothesized model incorporating science identity was supported and most paths did not vary significantly across four race/ethnicity*gender groups except for three paths. Research and practice implications of the findings for supporting research career intentions of culturally diverse undergraduate students are discussed.
Cultural diversity variables like race and/or ethnicity influence research mentoring relationships, but mentors may not know how to address such variables with their mentees. Using a randomized ...controlled trial design, we tested a mentor training intervention to increase mentors' awareness and skill in addressing cultural diversity in research mentoring relationships, documenting its impact on mentors and their undergraduate mentees' ratings of mentor effectiveness. Participants were a national sample of 216 mentors and 117 mentees from 32 undergraduate research training programs in the United States. Mentors in the experimental condition reported greater gains than those in the comparison condition regarding the relevance of their racial/ethnic identity to mentoring and their confidence to mentor students across diverse cultural identities. Paired mentees of mentors in the experimental group rated their mentors higher at respectfully broaching and creating opportunities to address race/ethnicity matters than those with mentors in the comparison group. Our results support the efficacy of culturally focused mentorship education.
An evidence-based research mentor training (RMT) curricular series has been shown to improve the knowledge and skills of research mentors across disciplines and career stages. A train-the-trainer ...model was used in the context of several targeted approaches aimed at sustainability to support national dissemination of RMT and expand the network of facilitators prepared to implement the curricula. These infrastructure elements included (1) an expansion initiative to increase the number of trained facilitators able to deliver train-the-trainer workshops nationwide; (2) adaptation of RMT curricula for multiple audiences and career stages to increase accessibility; (3) implementation resources to support facilitators and help them overcome implementation barriers; and (4) standardized evaluation of training. This approach to dissemination and implementation has resulted in the preparation of nearly 600 trained facilitators, a large percentage of whom have implemented mentor training for more than 4000 graduate student, junior faculty, and senior faculty mentors. Implications for and challenges to building and sustaining the national dissemination of RMT are discussed.
This dissertation examines the role that religion plays in women's entrepreneurship. After an introductory chapter, Chapter Two begins with an examination of the religious context of an area and its ...effect on the number and size of women owned businesses within that area. The religious context of an area creates a 'moral community', leading to social norms based upon religious values for the whole community, regardless of an individual's religious affiliation. We find that the religious context of an area is influential in both the number and size of women owned businesses within that area. After examining the role of religion at the contextual level, Chapter Three looks at the role that religion plays in women's strategies for handling work family conflict. Through qualitative interviews with 37 Christian women we find that religion influences the habitus of the women, shaping how they perceive work family conflict, as well as how they choose to handle that conflict. Chapter Four looks at the association between religion and women's motivations to start a business as well as the characteristics (such as size, profit, time and growth) of that business. Through a sample of women entrepreneurs, including religious and non-religious women, the effects of church attendance and religious tradition on these entrepreneurial outcomes are examined. Findings show that both church attendance and religious tradition are significant in both the motivation to start a business as well as the characteristics of this business for women. The final chapter briefly reviews the findings of the empirical chapters as well as how they fill a notable gap in the research. Finally, we discuss how these findings are of importance for future research and suggest some potentially helpful future research ideas.
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