Appraising a structured peer mentorship program among physical therapy graduates

Abstract

Abstract: PURPOSE: Mentorship is an integral part of student training in higher education. The most commonly adopted design in Indian Educational Institutes is traditional mentorship; teacher–student mentorship. Larger mentor–mentee ratios are one of the difficulties in this ongoing design, thus we investigate the effect of a concept called peer mentoring where students are assigned specific older peers as mentors. METHODS: The study commenced after receiving ethical approval from the Institutional Ethics Review Committee. Written informed consent and demographic details were obtained from all the participants. One hundred and twenty students were recruited to participate in the study through a systematic random sampling method. Further on they were divided into two groups: teacher–student mentorship and peer mentorship, respectively. All participants were pretested using “Westside Test Anxiety,” “Rosenberg Self-Esteem,” and “Self-Perception of Test Taking Scale.” One session was conducted every week for 12 weeks. The postassessment was performed using the same preevaluation measures. RESULTS: Findings of the present study demonstrate that by the end of 12 weeks’ both groups demonstrated reduction in anxiety, improved self-esteem and confidence, and test-taking skills. However, students undergoing peer mentorship demonstrated a greater reduction in their anxiety levels (P < 0.05), better self-esteem levels (P < 0.05), improved confidence levels and test-taking skills (P > 0.05) as compared to traditional mentorship. CONCLUSION: Peer mentorship program was beneficial in reducing anxiety levels and improving self-esteem, confidence, and perception of test-taking skills. As a result, peer mentoring must be implemented as an adjunct to traditional mentorship programs in higher education.