"Mentor" is a term widely used in academic medicine but for which there is no consensus on an operational definition. Further, criteria are rarely reported for evaluating the effectiveness of mentoring. This article presents the work of an Ad Hoc Faculty Mentoring Committee whose tasks were to define "mentorship," specify concrete characteristics and responsibilities of mentors that are measurable, and develop new tools to evaluate the effectiveness of the mentoring relationship. The committee developed two tools: the Mentorship Profile Questionnaire, which describes the characteristics and outcome measures of the mentoring relationship from the perspective of the mentee, and the Mentorship Effectiveness Scale, a 12-item six-point agree-disagree-format Likert-type rating scale, which evaluates 12 behavioral characteristics of the mentor. These instruments are explained and copies are provided. Psychometric issues, including the importance of content-related validity evidence, response bias due to acquiescence and halo effects, and limitations on collecting reliability evidence, are examined in the context of the mentor-mentee relationship. Directions for future research are suggested.

A progressive postresection walking program significantly improves fatigue and health-related quality of life in pancreas and periampullary cancer patients. Recommended Citation Yeo, Theresa; Burrell, Sherry A; Sauter, Patricia K; Kennedy, Eugene P; Lavu, Harish; Leiby, Benjamin E; and Yeo, Charles, "A progressive postresection walking program significantly improves fatigue and health-related quality of life in pancreas and periampullary cancer patients." (2012 Methods:One hundred and two patients with resected PPC consented to participate in this study and were randomized to either an Intervention Group (IG) or a Usual Care Group (UCG).Subjects completed visual analog scales, the FACIT-Fatigue Scale (FFS) and the Short Form36v2® after surgery and again 3 to 6 months after hospital discharge. Results:Patients in the IG and UCG were comparable with regard to demographics, comorbidities, cancer type and staging, type of resection, pre-op fatigue and pain levels, adjuvant therapy and baseline walking distance. Patients in the IG had significantly improved scores on the FFS at study completion, improved fatigue and pain scores, as well as overall physical functioning and mental health composite scores. At study completion, participants in the IG were walking twice as far and were significantly more likely to have continued walking or another form of exercise as compared to the UCG. Using hierarchical cluster analysis three mutually exclusive symptom groupings were identified in the cohort. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis did not indicate an overall survival benefit for the IG. Conclusion:This is the first prospective, randomized and controlled trial to report that participation in a home walking program confers a significant benefit in resected PPC patients

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Pancreatic cancer affects 44,000 Americans and at least 250,000 individuals worldwide annually. The incidence is slowly increasing after a recent period of decline. Cases are predicted to increase globally because of increased longevity and the widespread adoption of cancer-causing behaviors, such as cigarette smoking, dietary indiscretion, and a global increase in diabetes. Well-known risk factors for pancreatic cancer are advancing age, tobacco smoking, obesity, certain inherited familial disorders, second-hand smoke exposure, chronic pancreatitis, and diabetes. Associations with human immunodeficiency virus, ABO blood group, hepatitis B virus, human immunodeficiency virus, and Helicobacter pylori have also been identified.