Mentoring In Context Research Articles

Mentor teachers’ achievement goal orientations for mentoring during the practicum

ABSTRACT Teachers’ varied goal orientations meaningfully explain differences in their behaviour and cognition. Achievement goal orientation theory (GOT) provides a valuable theoretical framework for understanding teacher motivation. However, GOT has not yet been applied in the context of mentoring student teachers during the practicum. This study explores the use of GOT and describes mentor teachers’ motivations during the school practicum. For this, we analyse semi-structured interviews with 23 Austrian mentor teachers using qualitative structuring-content analysis. Results show that within the mentoring context it is important to differentiate between self- and other-oriented goal orientations. Mentor teachers are strongly mastery and relational goal oriented, while ability-avoidance and work-avoidance goals are less prominent. Overall, the findings demonstrate GOT’s value in understanding mentor teachers’ motivations. Implications are offered as an avenue for future research.

Resolving the double-edged sword of mentoring: the role of generativity

PurposeThis paper utilizes generativity to explore the relationship between mentoring support and organizational identification, turnover intention and reciprocated mentoring in protégés.Design/methodology/approachThe paper used a cross-sectional design with surveys administered to 351 working adults in the USA to test the hypotheses on the relationship between mentoring and turnover intention through organizational identification with first-stage moderation of generativity.FindingsEmployees who were high in generativity, mentoring support was positively associated with organizational identification and negatively associated with turnover intentions. Generativity was also positively related to reciprocated mentoring through the choice to mentor others, the number of mentees and the mentoring support provided.Practical implicationsThe authors' results suggest organizations receive the greatest benefits when providing mentoring support to generative employees.Originality/valueThis study applies generativity to the context of mentoring by exploring the impact of mentoring support on identification with the organization, turnover intentions and willingness to mentor others by comparing the conditional effects of high generativity versus low generativity.

A Mobile App to Assist the Mentors of African American Young Men Who Have Sex With Men: Usability Study.

Mentoring can promote positive youth development. Owing to social and structural factors, young people in underresourced communities often lack adequate access to mentors, and naturally occurring mentors are more common than formal, programmatic mentors. There is little information on the impact of naturally occurring mentors on youth in general and even less on the role that mentors may play in promoting healthy outcomes in sexual and gender minority youth. African American young men who have sex with men (YMSM) are more likely to reside in communities with limited access to formalized mentorship programs and may benefit from naturally occurring mentoring relationships that address health outcomes, specifically related to HIV. This study is a usability test of a mobile app designed for the mentors of African American YMSM to increase mentors' knowledge of and confidence in talking about HIV prevention and related topics with mentees. Following consent, eligible and naturally occurring mentoring pairs involving African American YMSM in Baltimore; Philadelphia; and Washington, District of Columbia, tested the app, UrbanMentorHub, for usability. Participants downloaded the app and used it for 1 month, completed pre- and postintervention surveys, and participated in a follow-up focus group discussion. Participants' sociodemographic characteristics and HIV- and mentorship-related measures were characterized using descriptive statistics. Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used to test for pre- and postintervention differences in knowledge, confidence, and outcome expectancy measures. Focus group discussions were audio recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were thematically coded and analyzed to identify ways that UrbanMentorHub could be improved in the mentoring context. Nine mentorship pairs participated in this usability study (N=18). Mentors obtained high scores on knowledge, confidence, outcome expectancies, skills, and intentions related to HIV and mentoring. No pre- or postintervention changes were observed in these measures. Mentors reported usually initiating conversations around HIV testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis; mentees and mentors equally initiated conversations on sexual practices and same-sex relationships. Mentors reported sexual practices as the most frequently discussed topic in the past month and pre-exposure prophylaxis being the least discussed. Mentees reported high comfort with HIV-related conversations. No pre- or postintervention change was observed regarding HIV knowledge. Most mentees reported having discussed most HIV-related topics with their mentor in the past month. Mentor feedback on the app was mostly neutral, although they reported positive perceptions of the idea of the app, indicating the potential for addressing a need in their communities. Mentors suggested ways to improve the app content and design elements. Although there was no observed statistical change in measured outcomes, and qualitative feedback was overall neutral, the results of this usability study can inform future work to design and promote interventions and resources that support mentoring relationships for African American YMSM.

Critical Perspectives on Expanding Racial/Ethnic Diversity in the HIV Research Workforce: Comorbidities and Mentoring.

HIV-related comorbidities in underrepresented minority populations are reframed to include the co-occurring problems of systemic and structural barriers, within the mentoring context as a buffer and as action-oriented. This framework is discussed to improve racial and ethnic minority diversity in the research workforce from the perspectives of HIV comorbidities and mentoring. An integrated and coordinated approach to HIV-related comorbidities and inequities may be helpful when combined with research on the social-structural contributions as drivers to diversify the research workforce. We emphasize how these key research issues (a) provide a platform for training and retraining a highly motivated, diverse workforce and (b) facilitate the empowerment of these trained individuals to conduct rigorous scientific research on social-structural factors to mitigate the effects of these comorbidities. We conclude that a diverse research workforce is necessary but insufficient for improving training-related outcomes or reducing comorbidity effects. Additional considerations are warranted that include systemic approaches and changes at the structural and institutional levels.

Three Actors of Entrepreneur Mentoring and Their Impact on Perceived Mentoring Effectiveness: The Korean Formal Mentoring Context

Purpose: This study investigates the impact of three actors that influence entrepreneur mentoring—mentor, mentee, and operating agency—on mentoring effectiveness within the context of formal mentoring in Korea. Specifically, the study considers the characteristics of the mentee, mentoring functions provided by the mentor, and support from the operating agency as antecedents to explain the perceived mentoring effectiveness of the mentee.
 Design/methodology/approach: I conducted two studies. Study 1 involves data from mentees participating in the entrepreneur mentoring program hosted by the Korea Venture Business Association from March to June 2018. Data for Study 2 was collected from mentees participating in the mentoring program hosted by incubating center of university located in South Korea from November to October 2022. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the hypotheses.
 Findings: First, Study 1 shows that willingness to receive mentoring positively affects entrepreneurial competence improvement, but this impact was insignificant in Study 2. Second, the problem-solving function provided by the mentor presents a significant positive effect on both mentoring satisfaction and entrepreneurial competence improvement. Third, the motivating function undertaken by a mentor only has a significant positive effect on improving entrepreneurial competence in Study 1. This motivating function positively affects mentoring satisfaction and entrepreneur competence improvement in Study 2. Fourth, support from the operating agency has a significant positive impact on both mentoring satisfaction and improving entrepreneurial competence after controlling for the mentor and mentee effects.
 Research limitations/implications: This study provides a theoretical contribution to the research on entrepreneur mentoring. In this regard, it suggests three actors-based models of mentoring effectiveness and practical implications for organizations executing entrepreneurship mentoring programs. Accordingly, it confirms that the operating agency’s managerial role is necessary for enhancing entrepreneur mentoring effectiveness.
 Originality/value: Entrepreneur mentoring is implemented via formal mentoring in many developing countries. However, little attention has been paid to the operating agency as the primary determinant affecting mentoring effectiveness. The current study addresses this gap by examining the effects of three actors in formal mentoring— mentee, mentor, and operating agency—on the mentee’s perceived mentoring effectiveness.

Development and Validation of the ‘Mentoring for Effective Teaching Practicum Instrument’

In the context of improving the quality of teacher education, the focus of the present work was to adapt the Mentoring for Effective Primary Science Teaching instrument to become more universal and have the potential to be used beyond the elementary science mentoring context. The adapted instrument was renamed the Mentoring for Effective Teaching Practicum Instrument. The new, validated instrument enables the assessment of trainee teachers’ perceived experiences with their mentors during their two-week annual teaching practicum at elementary and high schools. In the first phase, the original 34-item Mentoring for Effective Primary Science Teaching instrument was expanded to 62 items with the addition of new items and items from the previous works. All items were rephrased to refer to contexts beyond primary science teaching. Based on responses on an expanded instrument received from 105 pre-service teachers, of whom 94 were females in their fourth year of study (approx. age 22–23 years), the instrument was reviewed and shortened to 36 items classified into six dimensions: personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge, modelling, feedback, and Information and Communication Technology due to outcomes of Principal Component and Confirmatory Factor analyses. All six dimensions of the revised instrument are unidimensional, with Cronbach alphas above 0.8 and factor loadings of items above 0.6. Such an instrument could be used in follow-up studies and to improve learning outcomes of teaching practice. As such, specific and general recommendations for the mentee, mentors, university lecturers, and other stakeholders could be derived from the findings to encourage reflection and offer suggestions for the future.

Generative Proteges Reciprocate High Quality Mentoring

Competition for talent in the current labor market is fierce. Organizations stay competitive by developing and retaining the talent they already have. At the same time, employees increasingly value quality relationships with their leaders and organizations. Generativity is a concept from social psychology that reflects the value individuals tend to place on social investments in the future. As such, it has many potential applications for understanding organizational phenomenon. In the paper, we apply generativity to the context of mentoring and explore how protégé generativity impacts their attachment to the organization and willingness to mentor others when they receive high quality mentoring. In a sample of 351 working adults, we found that in employees who were high in generativity, high quality mentoring was positively associated with organizational identification and reciprocated mentoring and negatively associated with turnover intentions. These results suggest that organizations receive the greatest benefits from providing high quality mentoring to employees that are high in generativity.

Didactics of Languages: Implementing Dynamic Exchanges and Enhancing the Potential of Creativity in a Mentoring Context

Didactics of Languages: Implementing Dynamic Exchanges and Enhancing the Potential of Creativity in a Mentoring Context

Processus d’élaboration et de validation d’un questionnaire portant sur le développement des compétences émotionnelles lors du mentorat

Objective and methodThe aim of this article is to provide a portrait of the emotional competencies developed by school principals (n=359) in a mentoring context by developing a seven-step questionnaire by Frenette et al. (2019) presenting various proofs of validity. ResultsThe analyses conducted support a factorial structure with two correlated aspects of emotional competencies (self and others). School principals in Quebec develop more emotional competencies related to the aspect of others than for themselves during mentoring. A further analysis indicates that school principals develop more two dimensions of Emotional competencies: Identification and Understanding. The results also show that 77.26 % of respondents indicated that they developed emotional skills during mentoring. ConclusionThe results provided an understanding of the importance of emotional competencies in education, and specifically in school management. It also revealed the importance of emphasizing the role of mentoring in their development. To our knowledge, the questionnaire developed in this study is one of the first to measure the development of emotional competencies during a mentoring relationship.

Exploring the pre-service teacher mentoring context: The construction of self-regulated professionalism short courses

During work integrated learning (WIL), pre-service mentoring helps prepare final-year education students for the workplace. The pre-service teacher is placed alongside a mentor teacher, and the higher education institution (HEI) stipulates the timeline and the requirements. This study follows a wide-ranging research project, identified by the acronym FIRE (Fourth-year Initiative for Research in Education). In this article we focus on pre-service teacher mentoring experiences, partnerships, roles, and teacher identity development concerning mentor teachers, not mentor lecturers. The results of 2 baseline exploratory research surveys are shared. The attitudes, beliefs, opinions and practices of Senior, Further Education and Training phase mentor teachers and pre-service teachers were gathered, measured and compared. The responses to 2 cross-sectional questionnaires in electronic format provided a competence-base for the design of curricula for 2 short courses about mentoring and self-regulated professionalism. The 2 short courses were created for mentor teachers and pre-service teachers.

Development of a Novel Mentorship Platform to Foster Relational Mentoring, Empowered Vulnerability, and Professional Identity Formation in Undergraduate Medical Education.

Mentorship is valuable to medical students undergoing professional identity formation. Many institutions lack infrastructure to facilitate the personalized mentoring that supports students' integration of new professional identities with their personal identities and values. The authors developed a novel mentorship platform called Weave via a multistep, iterative design process, incorporating in-person and survey-based student and faculty feedback. Features of Weave include clear communication of mentorship offerings and expectations, plus opportunities to engage mentors based on professional and personal (identity-based) attributes. Faculty at Harvard Medical School who created a mentor profile within the first 3 months of launch and students who visited the website within the same period were invited to complete usability surveys in February 2019; students were invited to complete impact surveys in August 2020. Fifty-two of 132 invited faculty members (39.4%) and 80 of 185 students (43.2%) completed the usability surveys. Most of these faculty (86.5%) and students (73.8%) reported navigating the website was easy/very easy; 36 faculty (69.2%) created a mentor profile within 10 minutes. Key innovations highlighted by faculty and students were the listing of personal attributes and identities of diverse faculty; centralized, increased access to faculty mentors; ease of use; and provision of clear expectations. Nearly all students who completed the impact surveys agreed that Weave allowed them to connect with a faculty mentor whom they would not have found through other sources and to learn about the dimensions of diverse faculty. Weave is a customizable online mentorship platform that fosters empowered vulnerability and increases dialogue between medical students and faculty based on professional and personal interests and identities. Weave may be expanded to other mentoring contexts and adapted for implementation at other institutions to help cultivate an institutional culture that values mentoring and to strengthen broader diversity and inclusion efforts.

Mentoring and newcomer well-being: a socialization resources perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of mentoring on newcomer well-being, as mediated by newcomer socialization and moderated by proactive personality.Design/methodology/approachData were collected at four time points in a sample of 227 newcomers. Regression analysis and bootstrapping method were used to test the hypotheses.FindingsMentoring had a positive and indirect effect on newcomer well-being through socialization. The moderated mediation analysis also revealed that proactive personality augmented the direct effect of mentoring on socialization and its indirect effect on well-being.Research limitations/implicationsOur data were collected in China, thereby limiting the generalization of the research findings. Future research can test our model in different cultural contexts.Practical implicationsOrganizations should consider establishing a mentoring program to foster newcomer socialization and achieve well-being. Within the mentoring context, cultivating newcomers to become more proactive can predict higher socialization levels, resulting in higher well-being.Originality/valuePrevious research largely focused on the development of the well-being of tenured employees. Drawing on socialization resources theory, this study focuses on the newcomer well-being and proposes the influential mechanism and boundary condition of the relationship between mentoring and newcomer well-being. It sheds light on exploring the well-being development for newcomers.

Educational and Economic Aspects of Mentoring

The OECD's skills strategy and policy highlights skills ahead of formal qualifications and draws attention to the importance of work-based learning (apprenticeships). In the economy, given the utilisation of the skill set of individuals at the workplace level, the conscious management of the knowledge and skills of the organisation now appears to be an efficiency-increasing factor. One way to do this is to involve and mentor economically inactive groups (students / new entrants, low-skilled social groups and pensioners) in the labour market. Mentoring should be treated as a discrete area, but one that is still a part of the organisation's strategically defined human resource management and knowledge management system, in which the goals, roles, processes, responsibilities and benefits, as well as the possibilities for development, are clarified. This study analyses the educational and economic context of mentoring, the nature of mentoring and the possibility of its application; its conclusions provide an appropriate framework for developing a mentoring programme.

Formalizing the Informal: Lessons Learned from a Competency-Based Mentorship Program for Residents in Psychiatry.

CanMEDS competencies have been established and guide residency education in Canada, yet their inclusion in a formalized mentorship program for competency-based medical education (CBME) has yet to be explored. A mixed methods study was conducted to investigate the perceptions of residents and faculty members in psychiatry who participated in a formalized CBME mentorship program. The authors conducted secondary analysis of intake survey data from program participants and collected semi-structured interview data. Chi-square analysis of survey data determined associations between participant demographics and perceptions of mentorship. Thematic analysis techniques were used to analyze interview data. Finally, survey and interview data were triangulated and transformed into broad themes. Survey data from 46 residents and 41 faculty members and semi-structured interview data from 8 residents and 6 faculty members were analyzed. Data analysis revealed support for the informal use of the CanMEDS roles framework in a mentoring context. Factors that influenced participant satisfaction with the program included mentor qualities, the mentor-mentee pairing strategy, informality of mentoring sessions, and the presence of administrators and other program coordinators to maintain and support the program. The perceptions of participants in this study suggest that formal mentorship programs can be beneficial for residents, in terms of enhancing clinical competencies, advancing overall well-being, ensuring preparedness to undertake professional careers, and the provision of essential psychosocial support. Future work is needed to assess the implementation of formal mentorship programs in other residency training programs.

Using critical race theory to reframe mentor training: theoretical considerations regarding the ecological systems of mentorship

This article offers a theoretical and critical analysis of race-dysconscious mentorship involving students of color and white faculty. Inspired by ecological systems theory, critical race theory, and the NIH-funded program, Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity: Promoting Opportunities for Diversity in Education and Research, our analysis considers the ecosystems that promote student pushout and hinder diversification of the scientific workforce, which call for “critical” alternatives to traditional research mentorship. We first examine the historical, social–political, institutional, interpersonal, and intrapsychic ecosystems of traditional mentor–protégé relationships. Two areas are reviewed: (a) “diversity” as it operates in universities and research laboratories and (b) the discursive properties of a dysconscious dialog that rationalizes modern racism. Next, we connect the five ecosystems of mentorship by integrating literature on critical history, white consciousness, the interpersonal context of mentoring, and mentor–protégé phenomenology. Our analysis demonstrates how the racialized lives of members involved in a mentoring relationship are situated within racist macro-level ecological systems wherein intrapsychic and interpersonal actions and discourses unfold. The development of race-consciousness and anti-racist faculty mentor training programs is also discussed.

Online doctoral mentoring in a pandemic: help or hindrance to academic progress on dissertations?

PurposeThe author's purpose is to identify and analyze the progress of proposals and dissertations after mentor–mentee relationships rapidly transitioned to intensive online doctoral mentoring as a result of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19).Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory pedagogic research design was implemented in 2020 to examine the COVID-19 Dyadic Online Mentoring Intervention, a four-month individualized approach to mentorship. A survey was completed by mentees in an educational leadership cohort that revealed the benefits and drawbacks of technology for learning within online doctoral mentoring contexts. Additional sources of data were published literature, mentor's notes, email exchanges, and scholarly enrichment products.FindingsData analysis yielded three themes: (1) mentoring strategies were utilized; (2) the pandemic unsettled reality and (3) personal professional development opportunities were evident. Although life challenges were exacerbated by the pandemic, the online doctoral mentoring intervention met dissertation-related needs and supported academic progress in a Doctorate in Education degree program.Practical implicationsTechnology-mediated mentoring during crises involves more than modality changes. Faculty mentors should not be solely responsible for mitigating program and dissertation disruption. Academic cultures must support the adoption of pedagogic innovations like high-quality online doctoral mentoring.Originality/valueOnline doctoral mentoring structures utilizing synchronous and asynchronous technologies can help mentees make academic progress in a crisis, not only in “normal” times.

Opening up: An exploration of youth mentor self-disclosure using laboratory-based direct observation

Research on communication in youth mentoring is nascent, despite being a vital part of developing high quality relationships. In this study, we explored mentor self-disclosure using laboratory-based direct observations of mentor-mentee interactions. We analyzed video recordings of 42 mentoring pairs engaged in a discussion activity to identify key features of mentor self-disclosure in a controlled and standardized setting. Our findings show that mentors practice self-disclosure in mentee-oriented ways, characterized by disclosures that are relevant and meaningful to the mentee, and typically shared in the context of a reciprocal pattern of disclosure. We discuss the ways in which the unique context of youth mentoring influences mentor disclosure and the implications for relationship-building. Since this is the first time research using laboratory-based direct observation has been used in youth mentoring, we also discuss how this innovative methodology can advance our understanding of relational processes.

How Trainees Use the Information from Telepointers in Remote Instruction

Researchers have shown both performance drawbacks and benefits of using telepointers or similar display overlay-technologies in remote instruction; however, there is not a clear understanding of why there are these performance effects. This poses a challenge in knowing how and when to successfully use or design telepointing technologies in remote instruction. A better understanding is needed with the rise of remote workers in a wide array of industries from oil rig repair to surgery, and the proliferation of heads-up displays or telecommunications devices to support these future work practices. In this study, we explore how the information conveyed through a telepointer is taken up and acted upon by surgical trainees in a laparoscopic surgical telementoring setting. We collected audio and video data of 12 surgical trainees who performed standard laparoscopic surgical tasks on a physical model under the guidance of a surgical trainer. We investigated both action and talk to determine how the telepointer-based information was used. Our findings reveal three main challenges in using the instructional information conveyed through the telepointer including the trainees' tendency of attending to the telepointer instruction as the primary source of information. We argue that the found challenges are socio-technical in nature and require a redesign of the mentoring context as well as the technological tools.

Mentoring to Promote Professional Well-being

This article elaborates on a follow-up mentoring session conducted with a junior colleague who had frequent contact with me over a period of one year during her coursework as she considered me a senior instructor with substantial research experience. The purpose was to exploit the strategies of advising in a mentoring context utilizing intentional reflective dialogue (IRD) to encourage reflection on professional well-being. To facilitate the process and achieve an in-depth analysis of her level of professional well-being, I employed Seligman’s (2011) PERMA model, explaining professional well-being with reference to its components of positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. In the article, I briefly give information on the context and background, the purpose, and the professional well-being model used. I then outline the flow of the session, and point out and discuss how the strategies of advising have been exploited through a series of IRD exchanges in an effort to stimulate an in-depth discussion. Finally, I present my personal reflections as well as the potential implications to be considered while conducting mentor-mentee sessions and improving professional well-being in educational settings.

Functions of peer mentoring, satisfaction and the “real” relationship in postgraduate psychology education

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how a peer mentoring relationship may support provisional psychologists engaged in postgraduate education in Australia. The theoretical lens for this study draws from the real relationship framework and significant events literature. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative and qualitative data were obtained via a web survey from a sample of 23 mentors and 41 mentees. Participants had engaged in a one-year peer mentoring program on a volunteer basis. The survey contained measures of functions of mentoring, perceived genuineness and realism in the relationship, and overall satisfaction with peer mentoring. Participants also provided accounts of helpful events, hindering events and open feedback. Findings Perceived satisfaction was significantly correlated with greater genuineness and realism in the relationship. Satisfaction was associated with psychosocial and clinical functions of mentoring for both mentors and mentees, and career functions for mentees only. Qualitative findings indicated that the most helpful events included psychosocial support, mutual understanding and skill development. The most frequent hindering events were logistics/time, lack of structure and mentor technique/activity. Practical implications Peer mentors show great promise for supporting provisional psychologists. Recommendations for higher education providers include providing peer mentors with guidance regarding the importance of psychosocial support, clinical skill development and creating genuine and real relationships. Peer mentor training would also benefit from the inclusion of career development strategies and psychoeducation on transference. Originality/value This study is the first to apply the real relationship framework and significant events analysis to the psychology peer mentoring context.