Mentoring and the Career Satisfaction of Male and Female Academic Medical Faculty

Abstract

Purpose To explore aspects of mentoring that might influence medical faculty career satisfaction and to discover whether there are gender differences. Method In 2010–2011, the authors surveyed 1,708 clinician–researchers who received (in 2006–2009) National Institutes of Health K08 and K23 awards, which provided mentoring for career development. The authors compared, by gender, the development and nature of mentoring relationships, mentor characteristics, extent of mentoring in various mentor roles, and satisfaction with mentoring. They evaluated associations between mentoring and career satisfaction using multivariable linear regression analysis. Results The authors received 1,275 responses (75% response rate). Of these respondents, 1,227 (96%) were receiving K award support at the time and constituted the analytic sample. Many respondents had > 1 designated mentor (440/558 women, 79%; 410/668 men, 61%; P < .001). Few were dissatisfied with mentoring (122/1,220, 10.0%; no significant gender difference). Career dissatisfaction was generally low, but 289/553 women (52%) and 268/663 men (40%) were dissatisfied with work–life balance (P < .001). Time spent meeting or communicating with the mentor, mentor behaviors, mentor prestige, extent of mentoring in various roles, and collegiality of the mentoring relationship were significantly associated with career satisfaction. Mentor gender, gender concordance of the mentoring pair, and number of mentors were not significantly associated with satisfaction. Conclusions This study of junior faculty holding mentored career development awards showed strong associations between several aspects of mentoring and career satisfaction, indicating that those concerned about faculty attrition from academic medicine should consider mentor training and development.

Having a Mentor or a Doctoral Degree Is Helpful for Mid-Career Physicians to Publish Papers in Peer-Reviewed Journals

“…According to three systematic reviews regarding mentoring in academic medicine (Sambunjak et al 2006(Sambunjak et al , 2010Kashiwagi et al 2013), the effects of mentorship vary among studies. It shows that having a mentor exerts an effect on specialty choice, career choice in research, career satisfaction, gender equality, leadership promotion, and career development (Feldman et al 2010;DeCastro et al 2014). Corroborating the results of our study, several previous studies have reported mentors' positive effect on publishing research (Levinson et al 1991;Palepu et al 1998;Curtis et al 2003;Steiner et al 2004), completing a thesis (Sciscione et al 1998;Ramondetta et al 2003) and obtaining a grant (Palepu et al 1998;Curtis et al 2003;Steiner et al 2004).…”

A Nontraditional Faculty Development Initiative Using a Social Media Platform

“…It is notable, however, that all league members have remained in academia for more than a decade and have successfully advanced on the academic ladder, despite evidence that women in academia often have difficulty finding suitable mentors. 17 …”

Eliminating Mentors in Favor of Collaborators: Review and Challenge of Current Mentorship Literature

“…a Of note, presence/availability of female mentors had no association with mentee satisfaction in some studies (4,5) and had a positive association in some studies (28,32,36). b Female mentors were perceived as less accessible and more controlling.…”

“…Mentorship in general has been explored, as well as gender specific differences or issues that arise. The literature is comprised largely of surveys (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8), commentaries (9-12), reviews (13)(14)(15)(16), and interviews (17). Very few studies show causality, or active intervention and outcomes of mentorship programs (8,18,19).…”

“…Collaborative mentorship involves small groups of peers who meet regularly, plan career, and provide feedback to one another (10). Formal mentorship programs, mentor matching (2,3,8,9,19,33) Mentor accessibility (time, distance, location, etc) a (1,5,34) Initiated by mentees (3,11,16,32) Mentor played active role (e.g. role model, career advice and advancement, work-life balance, etc) (5,14,34,39,43) Mentor prestige…”