While mentorship programmes for professionals are growing in number, the lived experiences of mentor and mentee participants could be captured so as to better inform best practices and considerations ...for thriving relationships.
This study evaluated the lived experiences of mentors and mentees in a nationwide programme for pharmacists administered by a professional organisation in the United Kingdom, specifically examining the nature of relationships comprising those experiences.
A phenomenological approach was adopted, with semi-structured interviews conducted remotely between November 2019 and June 2020. Potential participants approached via a gatekeeper, employing purposive and convenience sampling. Transcribed data were examined using a combination of inductive and deductive thematic analysis and codes were assigned independently by two researchers, to increase rigour in analysis.
A total of 20 participants described their perceived role in their respective mentoring partnerships, gave their own account of the definition of mentoring and discussed the crucial role of trust and understanding in developing a successful mentoring relationship. Mentors’ beliefs on their perceived role in the relationship largely guided their approach to the structure of the interactions. The concepts of personal growth and development of peers were often discussed by the participants, along with the acknowledgment that mentoring is a relationship that ideally lasts potentially a lifetime, should the relationship be successful. Mentors felt a sense of pride in giving back to the profession. An unintentional unbalanced power dynamic was often reported and both mentors and mentees acknowledged frustrations when they perceived their partner was not showing the same level of engagement and commitment.
Pharmacists participating in a nationwide mentoring programme expressed considerable enthusiasm with their contribution, underscoring the programme's flexibility, its emphasis of mentoring versus merely advising, and its responsibility for enhancing or reconnecting with their professional identity as well as fostering more positivity and liveliness in their professional roles. . The programme might consider additional training to mentors to promote their own self-efficacy in mentoring, which among other things could curtail perceived potential power imbalances within mentor-mentee dyads and lead to a more dynamic and contextualised mentoring experience.
Research shows that trained mentors achieve better results than untrained ones. Their training should particularly address their expectations for their future mentoring. Our study involved 190 ...preservice teachers, potential mentors of ongoing school mentoring for primary and secondary school students of all grades. They were randomly assigned to one of four conditions in a 2-x-2 between-subjects design of mentoring type (traditional mentoring versus e-mentoring) and mentoring context (non-pandemic versus COVID-19 pandemic). Participants assessed mentoring conducted under these four conditions in terms of its appropriateness for achieving four mentoring program targets: learning, key skills, social targets, and problem coping. Participants were also asked to assess the resources available to achieve each program target. Overall, the potential mentors considered the various conditions to be suitable for achieving the four program targets. They were particularly favorable in their assessment of the possibility for the realization of learning targets. Likewise, they assumed that sufficient resources were available to achieve the targets. However, a repeated-measures MANOVA showed that the potential mentors considered more ambitious targets to be possible in traditional mentoring than in e-mentoring and normal (i.e., pre-pandemic) contextual conditions than during the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast, they estimated the resources available to achieve the targets to be about the same in the four conditions. This indicates a decoupling of mentoring targets from the consideration of the resources needed to achieve them. This assumption was confirmed in correlation analyses and has implications for mentor training.
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted many youth mentoring programs to offer digital services (e-mentoring). The sustained success of these efforts depended, in large part, on organizations' digital ...readiness. Although there are established, broad measures of digital readiness, mentoring organizations have unique requirements for readiness that have not been previously measured. The current cross-sectional survey research study measured the state of digital readiness for youth mentoring organizations and tested the organizational E-Mentoring Readiness Scale. Ninety-five representatives from U.S. mentoring programs completed an online survey. Participants felt mentors, mentees, and families were moderately comfortable with e-mentoring. There was less confidence and comfort with the required technology and execution of e-mentoring. A confirmatory factor analysis of the E-Mentoring Readiness Scale showed two distinct but related factors with good model fit. An honest assessment using this tool may allow the youth mentoring field to move into the digital age more seamlessly.
Effective mentoring is an important component of medical student professional development. We provide a description of the mentoring program at our institution.
Our institution UTHSCSA implemented a ...student-advising program (Veritas) with clinical faculty mentors and senior students (MiMs). The MiMs provided vertical peer mentoring to more junior students as an adjunct to faculty advising. The MiMs lead small group discussions that foster camaraderie, share academic and career information and promote professional identity. An optional MiM elective more intensively develops mentorship and leadership skills through a formal curriculum. The authors used annual survey data of all students as well as student mentors to evaluate program effectiveness.
Overall, student perception of the program improved each year across multiple domains, including feeling more prepared, supported and satisfied with their overall experience in medical school. Student mentors also found the process rewarding and helpful to their future careers as physicians.
The authors suggest implementing a vertical peer-mentoring program can be an effective adjunct to faculty mentoring.
School‐based mentoring programs are popular prevention programs thought to influence youth development; but rigorous evaluations indicate that these programs often have small effects on youth ...outcomes. Researchers suggest that these findings may be explained by (a) mentors and mentees failing to develop a close relationship and (b) mentors not setting goals or focusing on specific skills necessary improve outcomes. We assessed these explanations using data from approximately 1360 mentor and mentee pairs collected through a national study of school‐based mentoring (called, “The Student Mentoring Program”). Specifically, we tested the influence of mentee‐reported relationship quality and mentor‐reported use of goal‐setting and feedback‐oriented activities on academic, behavioral, and social‐emotional outcomes. Results suggested that youth reported relationship quality was associated with small to medium effects on outcomes. Moreover, goal‐setting and feedback‐oriented activities were associated with moderate to large effects on outcomes. We also found significant interactions between relationship quality and goal‐setting and feedback‐oriented activities on youth outcomes. We conclude that there appears to be a “sweet‐spot” wherein youth outcomes are maximized. The results of this study suggest a need for school‐based mentoring programs to monitor and support mentors in developing a close relationship while also providing opportunities to set goals and receive feedback.
Highlights
When mentors set goals and give feedback to mentees, youth experience better outcomes.
When youth report a good relationship with their mentor, youth experience better outcomes.
However, mentors maximize impact when they have a good relationship, set goals, and give feedback.
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