Understanding mentoring relationships between mentees, peer and senior mentors

Abstract

Background Mentoring relationships play a critical but poorly understood role in mentoring’s overall success. To overcome these knowledge gaps, a study of mentee experiences in the Palliative Medicine Initiative, a structured research-based mentoring program, is proposed. The program’s clearly described mentoring approach, competency-based mentoring stages and curated mentoring environment ensure a consistent mentoring experience. It provides a unique platform to study mentoring relationships longitudinally and its implications on professional identity formation. Methodology The Tool Design Systematic Evidence-Based Approach methodology is used to map and employ current understanding. A review of recent reviews on mentoring processes, mentoring’s effects, professional identity formation and professional identity formation assessment tools lay the foundation for the design of semi-structured interviews and mentoring diaries to evaluate the characteristics of successful mentoring relationships and mentoring’s impact on professional identity formation. The data accrued from these tools were evaluated using this methodology whilst changes in professional identity formation were assessed using the Ring Theory of Personhood. Results The semi-structured interviews revealed four themes: stakeholders, mentoring stages, mentoring relationships and professional identity formation whilst the mentoring diaries revealed two: mentoring processes and mentoring relationships. Two final domains emerged – mentoring relationships and professional identity formation. Conclusions The Palliative Medicine Initiative’s structured stage-based mentoring approach, trained stakeholders, curated environment, assessment-directed and personalized mentoring support reveal seven developmental stages of mentoring relationships. These culminate in changes to the values, beliefs and principles that shape how mentees see, feel and act as professionals. These findings suggest that mentoring programs may help to further develop and fine-tune their professional identity formation.

Assessing the effects of a mentoring program on professional identity formation

“…Based on Venkataramana et al [ 7 ]’s study, PIF may be a function of attending to resonance, synchrony, disharmony and dyssynchrony within the RToP.…”

“…Pivotal to this stage is the alignment of project, faculty, and mentee expectations. Subsequently, the stages of data gathering, review of study findings and manuscript preparation expose mentees to the research process whilst nurturing enduring and personalised mentoring relationships [ 13 , 14 ] that sit at the heart of the PMI’s success [ 7 ].…”

A systematic scoping review of group reflection in medical education

“…3 ). The KmRW was based on the same guiding theories and practice used in group reflective practice and provides evidence-based perspectives of the individual’s experiences with reflections, focusing on the clinician’s role in the reflective process, beginning with the clinician’s sensitivity to the presence of experiences and/or threats to belief systems [ 5 , 172 ]. Rooted within the clinician’s self-concept of personhood, the belief system is shaped by and manifested in the sense of identity and in their feelings, attitudes, thoughts, decision making, and conduct.…”

Evidence-guided approach to portfolio-guided teaching and assessing communications, ethics and professionalism for medical students and physicians: a systematic scoping review

“…A Systematic Evidence-Based Approach (SEBA) guided Systematic Scoping Review (SSR) (henceforth SSR in SEBA) is proposed to map CEP portfolio use in medicine to guide the design, structuring and support of a proposed programme 13–17 20–22 24 25 27–50. Given space constraints, we briefly describe the six stages in the construction of SSRs in SEBA in figure 1 and more advanced details of the systematic approach, split approach, jigsaw perspective, funnelling process, reiterative process and synthesis of SSR in online supplemental appendix A 16 27 28 35 41 48 51–56…”