J Educ Eval Health Prof.  2014;11:12. 10.3352/jeehp.2014.11.12.

Near-peer mentoring to complement faculty mentoring of first-year medical students in India

• Singh S
• Singh N
• Dhaliwal U

• KMID: 2380931
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3352/jeehp.2014.11.12

Abstract

PURPOSE
The first year is stressful for new medical students who have to cope with curricular challenges, relocation issues, and separation from family. Mentoring reduces stress and facilitates adaptation. A program for faculty mentoring of first-semester students was initiated by the Medical Education Unit in 2009 at University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi. Feedback after the first year revealed that mentees were reluctant to meet their mentors, some of whom were senior faculty. In the following year, student mentors (near-peers) were recruited to see if that would improve the rate and quality of contact between mentees and mentors.
METHODS
Volunteer faculty (n=52), near-peers (n=57), and new entrants (n=148) admitted in 2010 participated in the ratio of 1:1:3. The program aims were explained through an open house meeting, for reinforcement, and another meeting was conducted 5 months later. At year-end, a feedback questionnaire was administered (response rate: faculty, 28 [54%]; mentees, 74 [50%]).
RESULTS
Many respondent faculty (27, 96%) and mentees (65, 88%) believed that near-peer mentoring was useful. Compared to the preceding year, the proportion of meetings between faculty mentors and mentees increased from 4.0+/-5.2 to 7.4+/-8.8; mentees who reported benefit increased from 23/78 (33%) to 34/74 (46%). Benefits resulted from mentors' and near-peers' demonstration of concern/support/interaction/counseling (35, 47.3% mentees); 23 mentees (82%) wanted to become near-peers themselves.
CONCLUSION
Near-peer mentoring supplements faculty mentoring of first-year medical students by increasing system effectiveness.

Keyword

Counseling; Faculty; Medical education; Medical students; Mentors; Program development

MeSH Terms

Complement System Proteins*
Counseling
Surveys and Questionnaires
Education, Medical
Humans
India*
Mentors*
Program Development
Students, Medical*
Volunteers
Complement System Proteins

Reference

1. Levy BD, Katz JT, Wolf MA, Sillman JS, Handin RI, Dzau VJ. An initiative in mentoring to promote residents’ and faculty members’ careers. Acad Med. 2004; 79:845–850.

2. Bhatia A, Singh N, Dhaliwal U. Mentoring for first year medical students: humanizing medical education. Indian J Med Ethics. 2013; 10:100–103.

3. Singh S. Near peer role modeling: the fledgling scholars’ education paradigm. Anat Sci Educ. 2010; 3:50–51. http://dx/doi.org/10.1002/ase.126.

4. Quesnel M, King J, Guilcher S, Evans C. The knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Canadian master of physical therapy students regarding peer mentorship. Physiother Can. 2012; 64:65–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/ptc.2011-02.

5. Ramani S, Gruppen L, Kachur EK. Twelve tips for developing effective mentors. Med Teach. 2006; 28:404–408. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01421590600825326.

6. Duffy TP. The Osler-Cushing covenant. Perspect Biol Med. 2005; 48:592–602. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/pbm.2005.0087.

7. Garmel GM. Mentoring medical students in academic emergency medicine. Acad Emerg Med. 2004; 11:1351–1357.

8. Frei E, Stamm M, Buddeberg-Fischer B. Mentoring programs for medical students: a review of the PubMed literature 2000-2008. BMC Med Educ. 2010; 10:32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-10-32.

9. von der Borch P, Dimitriadis K, Stormann S, Meinel FG, Moder S, Reincke M, Tekian A, Fischer MR. A novel large-scale mentoring program for medical students based on a quantitative and qualitative needs analysis. GMS Z Med Ausbild. 2011; 28:Doc26. http://dx.doi.org/10.3205/zma000738.

10. Lockspeiser TM, O’Sullivan P, Teherani A, Muller J. Understanding the experience of being taught by peers: the value of social and cognitive congruence. Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract. 2008; 13:361–372. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10459-006-9049-8.

11. Sprengel AD, Job L. Reducing student anxiety by using clinical peer mentoring with beginning nursing students. Nurse Educ. 2004; 29:246–250.

12. Lafleur AK, White BJ. Appreciating mentorship: the benefits of being a mentor. Prof Case Manag. 2010; 15:305–311. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/NCM.0b013e3181eae464.

13. Miller C. Improving and enhancing performance in the affective domain of nursing students: insights from the literature for clinical educators. Contemp Nurse. 2010; 35:2–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.5172/conu.2010.35.1.002.

14. Naeger DM, Conrad M, Nguyen J, Kohi MP, Webb EM. Students teaching students: evaluation of a “near-peer” teaching experience. Acad Radiol. 2013; 20:1177–1182. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2013.04.004.

15. Singh S. Near peer teaching in South Asia: a buzz word or ground reality? Mymensingh Med J. 2011; 20:171–172.

16. Hall S, Stephens J, Andrade T, Davids J, Powell M, Border S. Perceptions of junior doctors and undergraduate medical students as anatomy teachers: Investigating distance along the near-peer teaching spectrum. Anat Sci Educ. 2014; 7:242–247. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ase.1419.

17. Rabatin JS, Lipkin M, Rubin AS, Schachter A, Nathan M, Kalet A. A year of mentoring in academic medicine: case report and qualitative analysis of 15 hours of meetings between a junior and senior faculty member. J Gen Intern Med. 2004; 19:569–573.

18. Straus SE, Chatur F, Taylor M. Issues in the mentor-mentee relationship in academic medicine: qualitative study. Acad Med. 2009; 84:135–139. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0b013e31819301ab.

19. Koopman RJ, Thiedke CC. Views of family medicine department chairs about mentoring junior faculty. Med Teach. 2005; 27:734–737. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01421590500271209.

20. Pena-Sanchez R, Hicks RC. Faculty perceptions of communications channels: a survey. Int J Innov Learn. 2006; 3:45–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJIL.2006.008179.