A Vertical Peer Mentorship Model to Promote Early Career Academic Development: Implementation and Initial Outcomes

Abstract

Mentorship is critical for career enhancement and professional development among early career researchers in the behavioral sciences. However, many barriers exist to securing appropriate mentorship, including inadequate supply of advanced mentors, inconsistent quality of mentorship, and diverse mentorship needs. Additionally, there are few training experiences that provide an opportunity to learn effective mentorship approaches and techniques. Vertical peer mentorship programs can provide one potential solution to these common mentorship pitfalls. In this approach, slightly more advanced early career professionals (e.g., post-doctoral fellows) provide mentorship to more junior colleagues (e.g., graduate students), permitting opportunities for both mentorship and mentorship training within the same dyad. Here, we detail one such early career vertical peer mentorship program developed within a subspecialty of psychology (eating disorders). We provide details about the iterative process of developing and refining this program to support mentor and mentee goals. We also provide initial program evaluation data from a subsample of participants completing post-program assessments (n = 109) that indicates that the program was highly acceptable (M = 8.22, SD = 4.25 acceptability on a 10-point Likert scale) and generative of early career productivity (producing > 25 manuscripts published or under review and > 21 conference abstracts) in its initial four years. This manuscript serves to provide a model for developing a successful vertical peer mentorship program and to encourage research in the under-investigated area of efficacious mentorship practices.