Peer mentorship and positive effects on student mentor and mentee retention and academic success

Abstract

This study examined how the introduction of peer mentorship in an undergraduate health and social welfare programme at a large northern university affected student learning. Using an ethnographic case study approach, the study draws upon data collected from a small group of mentors and their mentees over a period of one academic year using interviews, reflective journals, assessment and course evaluation data.Analysis of the data collected identified a number of key findings: peer mentorship improves assessment performance for both mentee and mentor; reduces stress and anxiety, enhances participation and engagement in the academic community, and adds value to student outcomes.

Mentoring in the clinical training of midwifery students. A focus study of the experiences and opinions of midwifery students at the Medical University of Warsaw participating in a mentoring programme

“…We demonstrated that the trust and support of mentors boosted students self-con dence. Snowden & Hardy suggest that psychological stress and fear of failure may interfere with normal learning process [40] Mentors are seen as those who can develop in mentees con dence about their professional future and faith in their abilities. A mentee should feel comfortable in her/his relation with a mentor [30,41].…”

Self-emergent peer support using online social networking during cross-border transition

“…Senior students also helped newcomers with course selection and shared their own ways of coping in first year. Peer mentorship has been demonstrated as one of the many ways to help firstyear students adapt well to university life (Snowden & Hardy, 2012). It reduces the mentees' anxiety, while helping them engage in the new community earlier.…”

Mentor Us: A Formal Mentoring Program for Nurses in Graduate Education

“…Mentorship is beneficial to both the mentor and mentee, as it helps to increase self-confidence and self-esteem and contributes to defining successful career trajectories (APA, 2006;Garvey & Westlander, 2013;Snowden & Hardy, 2012;Tong & Kram, 2013). Mentorship for new nurses who are moving into clinical practice helps to decrease turnover rates and contributes to increases in personal satisfaction, thus decreasing organizational costs to institutions (Zhang et al, 2016).…”

“…Unfortunately, there are multiple barriers to the completion of graduate studies including the highly stressful, isolating, and competitive nature of graduate education. To temper these barriers, attention to relational aspects of knowing and relating to colleagues can improve satisfaction and productivity of individuals in an array of organisations and institutions (Snowden & Hardy, 2012). To mitigate these concerns and to improve the graduate school experience, graduate students in the Faculty of Nursing at a large research university in western Canada, united to create a student-conceived and operated mentorship program called Mentor Us.…”