Comparing the Outcomes of Face-to-Face and Synchronous Online Research Mentor Training Using Propensity Score Matching

Enhancing patient-oriented research training: participant perceptions of an online course

BACKGROUND

Patient-oriented research is now widely regarded as key to improving health systems and patient outcomes. This shift toward meaningful patient involvement in health research has sparked a growing interest in patient-oriented research training across Canada. Yet some barriers to participation, including distance and scheduling constraints, may impede the provision of in-person patient-oriented research training. Virtual course delivery options may help surmount those barriers, as well as offer unique pedagogical advantages.

OBJECTIVE

To help increase patient-oriented research training uptake, the research team adapted the Canadian Institutes of Health Research's (CIHR) Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research's Foundations for Patient-Oriented Research course to a virtual format. The course consists of three modules, which focus respectively on patient-oriented research, health research methods, and teamwork skills. The current evaluation of this virtual delivery examines how a diverse set of participants received the online course.

METHODS

Course participants from a variety of professional backgrounds, including researchers, patients, clinicians, and policy decision-makers, were recruited from across Canada to participate in the adapted course. Participant and facilitator feedback was solicited via online surveys that were distributed shortly after the delivery of each module.

RESULTS

Over the span of the current project, the online course was delivered seven times across Canada. A total of 189 learners and 12 facilitators participated in the course. We received 89 completed feedback surveys in total. These included a total of 78 responses from learners, with 22 on Module 1, 32 on Module 2, and 24 on Module 3, in addition to 11 responses from facilitators. Overall, participants and facilitators were very satisfied with the course, indicating a successful adaptation from traditional to online delivery. Survey respondents were especially pleased with the course's co-learning elements, which exposed them to fresh perspectives and real patient voices, as well as ample opportunity for discussion. Some participants offered recommendations for minor course revisions. Future iterations of the course will reflect participant and facilitator feedback to enhance accessibility via minor changes to course format (e.g., shorter live sessions), content (e.g., more concrete examples), and workload (e.g., reduced pre-work requirements).

CONCLUSIONS

Sustainable and effective health care depends on health research that includes active partnerships across diverse populations. These collaborative relationships are fostered by strong capacity in patient-oriented research, which in turn hinges on widely accessible training opportunities. This online course overcomes common barriers to face-to-face training and offers the accessible, inclusive training environment required for sustained progress in patient-oriented research.

Mentoring up for early career investigators: Empowering mentees to proactively engage in their mentoring relationships

Introduction

Effective mentorship is recognized as critical for the professional development of clinical and translational investigators. Evidence-based mentorship training prompted the development of training for mentees at early career stages who are navigating both mentor and mentee roles. The curriculum titled, Mentoring Up for Early Career Investigators, recognizes the importance of building mentee self-efficacy across proactive mentorship skills and competencies.

Methods

Mentoring Up for Early Career Investigators curriculum is based on the research mentor training approach in Entering Mentoring. Pilot implementations of Mentoring Up at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Pennsylvania had positive training outcomes for KL2 Scholars. Subsequently, Mentoring Up was implemented and evaluated at several other institutions. For 26 implementations longer than 4 hours, data were collected on trainee demographics, satisfaction with training, skill gains across mentorship competencies, and the intent to change mentoring behaviors following training.

Results

88% of participants rated the mentee training as valuable. Significant skill gains were reported across all mentorship competencies following training. 77% reported specific plans to change or augment their mentoring behaviors because of the training. The majority aligned with mentorship skill competencies (aligning expectations, effective communications) or mentoring up strategies (voicing needs, setting boundaries, communicating proactively).

Conclusion

Mentoring Up training is effective in advancing mentee skills and promoting strategies to be more proactive in getting their mentoring needs met. Mentoring Up offers an expansion to the suite of mentorship education and resources to support the career advancement of all in the translational science workforce.

Effect of an educational program about mentorship competencies on nurse mentors' performance: a quasi-experimental study

BACKGROUND

Mentorship is a vital part of the nursing profession to improve role transition, job satisfaction, and job retention while facilitating socialization, emotional well-being, and the acquisition of new skills.

AIM

The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of an educational program about mentorship competencies on nurse mentors' performance at Port Said Healthcare Authority hospitals.

METHODS

A quasi-experimental study design (pre-test and post-test one group) was used to conduct the study at seven Healthcare Authority hospitals in Port Said Governorate, Egypt. The study subjects were consisted of a purposive sample of 30 nurse mentors and 60 intern nursing students. Data were collected using three tools consisted of the Mentor Knowledge Questionnaire, Mentor Competencies Instrument (MCI), and Nurse Mentor Performance Assessment. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 20, Student's t-test was used to measure differences between the pretest and post-test, and Qualitative categorical variables were compared using the chi-square test. A significant level value was considered when the p-value ≤ 0.05, and Cohen's d was used to measure the effect size.

RESULTS

the post-test scores of mentorship competencies and performance after implementation of the educational program significantly improved in the studied nurse mentors 56.1 ± 13.2, 60.5 ± 4.9 compared with pre-test scores with 37.1 ± 4.1, 49.7 ± 6.9 (P < 0.001). As determined by Cohen's d test, the effect size of an educational program is quite large on the nurse mentors' performance.

CONCLUSION

The educational program about mentorship competencies was significantly improve mentorship performance of the studied nurse mentors. The study recommended dissemination and generalization of the new and innovative mentorship program to the different stages of nursing education to foster the continued growth and development of nurse mentors and nurse students. Also, recommended developing a valid mentor assessment instrument consisting of and specific to the Egyptian context to assess the Egyptian mentorship model.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER (TRN)

The study protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Nursing, Port Said University (code number: NUR 13/2/2022) [10].

Unlocking the transformative power of mentoring for youth development in communities, schools, and talent domains

Mentoring is a highly individualized educational measure that can support youth development in communities, schools, and talent domains. Depending on the target population, goals, structure, and medium, mentoring for youths can differ considerably. This article first reviews the main types of mentoring programs and practices for youth development in communities, schools, and talent domains. Despite the popularity of mentoring programs, many programs fail to realize the full potential of mentoring as meta-analyses consistently show relatively small effects of mentoring. The discrepancy between the potential and actual effect of mentoring is referred to as the mentoring paradox. Crucial aspects that are held responsible for the mentoring paradox, such as adequate planning and implementation of mentoring programs, adherence to research-based mentoring practices, as well as quality assurance of mentoring programs through systematic program research and evaluation are described. Finally, implications on how to professionalize mentoring are provided for different stakeholders.

A randomized controlled trial of an intervention to increase cultural diversity awareness of research mentors of undergraduate students

Cultural diversity variables like race and/or ethnicity influence research mentoring relationships, but mentors may not know how to address such variables with their mentees. Using a randomized controlled trial design, we tested a mentor training intervention to increase mentors' awareness and skill in addressing cultural diversity in research mentoring relationships, documenting its impact on mentors and their undergraduate mentees' ratings of mentor effectiveness. Participants were a national sample of 216 mentors and 117 mentees from 32 undergraduate research training programs in the United States. Mentors in the experimental condition reported greater gains than those in the comparison condition regarding the relevance of their racial/ethnic identity to mentoring and their confidence to mentor students across diverse cultural identities. Paired mentees of mentors in the experimental group rated their mentors higher at respectfully broaching and creating opportunities to address race/ethnicity matters than those with mentors in the comparison group. Our results support the efficacy of culturally focused mentorship education.