Kindling the fire: The power of mentorship

A scoping review of mentorship in allied health: Attributes, programs and outcomes

BACKGROUND

Mentorship is a mutually beneficial voluntary relationship between mentor and mentee. In principle, the mentee trusts in the mentor for guiding career development and acquiring new knowledge and skills while the mentor finds giving back to the profession rewarding. Mentorship is beneficial at every career stage, but little is known about current programs and processes.

OBJECTIVE

To review the literature about mentorship in allied health to inform programs and practices in occupational therapy. Scoping focused on barriers, facilitators and reported outcomes of programs and attributes of mentors and mentees.

DATA SOURCES

A search was applied to six databases on 8 February 2022 in Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, Scopus, PUBMED and CINAHL Complete. Search terms were developed in consultation with an academic librarian and using the population, concept and context mnemonic.

METHODS

We used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) and the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis. Data extraction forms were piloted with two reviewers and dual extraction occurred with a portion of papers. Where conflicts arose, discussion occurred until a consensus was reached.

FINDINGS

Sixty-two papers were included from eleven countries. The papers arose from ten allied health disciplines, with five in occupational therapy. One-on-one mentoring was most common followed by groups and the use of online platforms. Structured approaches were often used, with the support of professional associations. Trust and willingness to share expertise were required attributes of mentors. Mentees appreciate self-selecting their mentor and having protected time for mentorship.

CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE

This synthesis provides a description of the available literature on mentorship in allied health. Benefits of mentorship were recorded with the acquisition of skills and knowledge being the most prominent. This synthesis provides ideas for future development and refinement of mentorship in occupational therapy.

Leadership aspiration: An intersectional analysis of racial and gender equity in pharmacy

BACKGROUND

The glass ceiling is a metaphor used to describe an invisible barrier that prevents an underrepresented group from rising beyond a certain level. Among pharmacists, underrepresented groups face various barriers and limitations to their successes.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this study was to apply the intersectionality framework to data collected from the 2019 National Pharmacist Workforce Study (NPWS) to understand the association of gender and race with leadership aspiration among pharmacists, including differences in perceived barriers and attractors for pursuing leadership.

METHODS

The 2019 NPWS was conducted using an electronic Qualtrics survey. Three e-mails containing the survey link were sent to a systematic random sample of 94,803 pharmacists through the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy Foundation e-profile system. The 2019 NPWS had an overall response rate of 6% (5705/94,803). A total of 8466 pharmacists clicked on the survey link, resulting in a usable response rate of 67.3% (5705/8466). Data were analyzed in SPSS software using descriptive and Pearson's r and chi-square test statistics.

RESULTS

Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) pharmacists reported holding 10.7% of all leadership positions. Leadership positions included manager, assistant manager, executive, dean, director, chief pharmacy officer, owner or partner, and other leadership position types. White men and women reported the lowest interest in leadership (38.8% and 37.7%), whereas Black men (65.1%), Latinas (59.2%), Black women (58.5%), and Latinos (57.1%) had the highest interest in leadership. "The ability to make an impact" was the most frequently selected attractor for wanting to pursue leadership, selected by 92.5% and 79.6% of Black men and women, respectively, 77.8% of Other women, and 76.9% of Latinos. At graduation from pharmacy school, the student debt loan average of all graduation years ranged from $63,886 (± $73,701) for Other men to $112,384 (± $105,417) for Black women. Higher student loan debt was positively correlated with wanting to pursue a leadership position (r = 0.22, P < 0.001). Black women graduating 2011-2019 had the highest student loan debt at graduation ($194,456 ± $88,898).

CONCLUSION

Interest in leadership positions by BIPOC pharmacists compared with reported leadership roles were inversely correlated. Understanding the discrepancy in interest in leadership and reported leadership positions held, particularly with relation to race and gender, is essential to understanding equity in pharmacy leadership. Further research is warranted to understand the factors that impede the ascension of women and underrepresented pharmacists into leadership positions.

Gender Discrimination, Career Aspirations, and Access to Mentorship Among Medical Students in Brazil

INTRODUCTION

Gender-based discrimination (GBD) creates a hostile environment that can affect medical students. Mentorship has been recognized as a mitigating factor for GBD. We aimed to investigate the impacts of GBD on career selection and well-being of medical students in Brazil and to explore access to mentorship among these students.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was performed using an anonymous survey in Portuguese. The survey was distributed in June 2021 to students enrolled in Brazilian medical schools. It contained 24 questions, including demographics, episodes of GBD experienced by responders and their impact on professional and personal life, and mentorship access.

RESULTS

Of 953 respondents, 748 (78%) were cisgender women, 194 (20%) cisgender men, and 11 nonbinary (1%). Sixty-six percent (625/953) of students reported experiencing GBD, with cisgender women and nonbinary being more likely to experience it than cisgender men (P < 0.001). Responders who experiences GBD report moderate to severe impact on career satisfaction (40%, 250/624), safety (68%, 427/624), self-confidence (68%, 426/624), well-being (57%, 357/625), and burnout (62%, 389/625). Cisgender women were more likely to report these effects than men counterparts (P < 0.01). Only 21% of respondents (201/953) had mentors in their medical schools.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings demonstrate that GBD is widespread among Brazilian medical students affecting their personal and professional lives, and most of them do not have access to a mentor. There is an urgent need to increase access to mentors who could mitigate the adverse effects of GBD and help develop a diverse and inclusive medical workforce.