Attitudes of Junior Hospital Doctors, in an English Teaching Hospital, to Learner-centred Educational Mentoring

Abstract

The authors have begun to explore the place of learner-centred educational mentoring in the postgraduate education of trainee doctors ('junior hospital doctors'). Utilising a set of 18 adjectival descriptors, derived from two imaginary mentor profiles, the views of 85 junior hospital doctors were sought by questionnaire in a preliminary study of their personal preference for a learner-centred or a non-learner-centred style of educational mentoring. The authors have found some preference for the learner-centred style, as defined by the definition embodied in the imaginary mentor profiles. The effects of gender, length of experience and career aspiration had only minor effects on this preference. The authors discuss theoretical doubts about the utility of learner-centred mentoring in an educational setting which, by its very nature, is highly regulated. To some extent, these fears are allayed by the data in this communication.