A Randomized Trial of a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Mentoring Program

Sowers, Jo-Ann; Powers, Laurie E.; Schmidt, Jessica; Keller, Thomas E.; Turner, Alison; Salazar, Amy M.; Swank, Paul R.

doi:10.1177/2165143416633426

Cited by 27 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Although the present study examined only match outcomes, the quantitative data suggested that disability similarity may be less important than commonly thought and did not confirm the hypotheses regarding the benefits of matching on the basis of disability similarity. Consistent with these findings on the lack of a positive effect of disability similarity on outcomes, a recent study examined youth outcomes for mentees with a disability and reported no differences between youth matched with a mentor having similar disability challenges and youth matched with a mentor who had no disability (Sowers et al., ). Taken together, these studies suggest that other factors or other similarity characteristics besides shared disability status may be more important for producing positive match and youth outcomes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Section: Matchingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One study examined the effect of matching on disability by randomly assigning students with one of several types of disabilities to have a mentor either with or without a disability or to a no‐treatment control group (Sowers et al., ). Although positive differences were found for youth in both of the mentoring conditions compared with those in the nonmentoring control group, matching on disability did not significantly affect outcomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Does having a similar disability matter for match outcomes?: A randomized study of matching mentors and mentees by visual impairment

Heppe

Kupersmidt

Kef

et al. 2018

Journal Community Psychology

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Mentoring is modestly effective for youth with a chronic illness or physical disability; however, program effectiveness may be enhanced when mentors and mentees are matched on shared interests and experiences. To test this hypothesis, mentees were randomly assigned to having a mentor with or without visual impairment (VI). Results showed that mentors without VI were younger and more likely to work or be educated in a helping profession and less likely to have a fixed mindset and extremely high positive expectations than mentors with VI. The main analyses on match outcomes showed that mentors with VI had significantly fewer and shorter match meetings, had a weaker relationship with their mentees, and were more likely to end their match prematurely. Mentor age, helping profession background, and fixed mindset were confounds in several analyses and reduced the significance of the relationship between VI group and match meeting quantity. The only relationship that remained significant controlling for covariates showed that matches including a mentor with VI were significantly more likely to end in premature closure than matches including a mentor without VI. Implications of the findings for future research and program practices related to matching were discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Section: Matchingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Does having a similar disability matter for match outcomes?: A randomized study of matching mentors and mentees by visual impairment

Heppe

Kupersmidt

Kef

et al. 2018

Journal Community Psychology

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“…• One methodologically sound group design study with random assignment (Sowers et al, 2017) Multimodal Anxiety and Social Skills Intervention (MASSI)…”

Section: Ebpsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Updating the Secondary Transition Research Base: Evidence- and Research-Based Practices in Functional Skills

Rowe

Mazzotti

Fowler

et al. 2020

Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals

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Transition education should be grounded in quality research. To do so, educators need information on which practices are effective for teaching students with disabilities transition-related skills. The purpose of this systematic literature review was to identify evidence-based and research-based practices in secondary special education and transition for students with disabilities. This systematic review resulted in the identification of nine secondary transition evidence-based practices and 22 research-based practices across more than 45 different transition-related skills. The range of effects for each of the secondary transition evidence-based and research-based practices identified are also included. Limitations and implications for future research, policy, and practice are discussed.

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“…Nevertheless, Britner et al [39] concluded that matching based on having similar disability might only benefit mentees who have not been exposed to positive role models with similar disabilities previously. Specifically, one study did randomly assign students with a wide variety of disabilities to either a mentor with or without similar disability-challenges or a control group, but no differences in youth outcomes were found [46]. While the results of these previous studies do not indicate that having a mentor with a similar disability confers benefits to their mentees, this had not been tested for youth with a visual impairment using mentors with and without a visual impairment.…”

Section: Mentoring For Youth With Disabilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving social participation of adolescents with a visual impairment with community-based mentoring: results from a randomized controlled trial

Heppe

Willemen

Kef

et al. 2019

Disability and Rehabilitation

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Purpose: The efficacy of a community-based mentoring program for adolescents with a visual impairment vs. care-as-usual was tested on social participation including satisfaction with social support. Materials and methods: Adolescents (15-22 years; 46% boys) were randomized to an intervention group with mentors with visual impairment (N ¼ 25), an intervention group with mentors without visual impairment (N ¼ 26), or care-as-usual (N ¼ 25). One-on-one mentoring activities regarded school/work, leisure activities, and social relationships. Results and conclusions: Multilevel growth modelling revealed no effect of mentoring on changes in social participation compared to the care-as-usual group (participation [95% CI-0.30, 0.21, d ¼ 0.1]; social participation composite [95% CI-0.24, 0.26, d ¼ 0.24]). Mentees matched to mentors with visual impairments increased more on satisfaction with their social support compared to mentees matched to mentors without impairments and the care-as-usual group [95% CI 0.02, 0.49, d ¼ 0.38]. Age, characteristics of the impairment, and number of match meetings were not associated with change in social participation during the mentoring program. This evaluation showed no benefit of mentoring for social participation of adolescents with a visual impairment. The value of mentors and mentees sharing the same disability needs further investigation. This trial is registered in the Netherlands Trial Register NTR4768. ä IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION A community-based mentoring program resulted in no benefits for adolescents with a visual impairment on their social participation. A community-based mentoring program should not replace care-as-usual provided to young people with a visual impairment in the Netherlands. It could only be thought of as an additional service within rehabilitation. Matching mentees and mentors based on sharing the same disability could strengthen the effect of a community-based mentoring program. However, these benefits are rather small. Providing additional support for the social participation of young people with a visual impairment might be especially helpful for those with a progressive impairment and with comorbid problems.

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A Randomized Trial of a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Mentoring Program

Cited by 27 publications

References 13 publications

Does having a similar disability matter for match outcomes?: A randomized study of matching mentors and mentees by visual impairment

Does having a similar disability matter for match outcomes?: A randomized study of matching mentors and mentees by visual impairment

Updating the Secondary Transition Research Base: Evidence- and Research-Based Practices in Functional Skills

Improving social participation of adolescents with a visual impairment with community-based mentoring: results from a randomized controlled trial

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