BMC Medical Education (Oct 2023)

Assessing the effects of a mentoring program on professional identity formation

  • Lalit Kumar Radha Krishna,
  • Anushka Pisupati,
  • Yun Ting Ong,
  • Kelly Jia Hui Teo,
  • Mac Yu Kai Teo,
  • Vaishnavi Venktaramana,
  • Chrystie Wan Ning Quek,
  • Keith Zi Yuan Chua,
  • Vijayprasanth Raveendran,
  • Harpreet Singh,
  • Sabine Lauren Chyi Hui Wong,
  • Victoria Wen Wei Ng,
  • Eleanor Kei Ying Loh,
  • Ting Ting Yeoh,
  • Jasmine Lerk Juan Owyong,
  • Min Chiam,
  • Eng Koon Ong,
  • Gillian Li Gek Phua,
  • Ruaraidh Hill,
  • Stephen Mason,
  • Simon Yew Kuang Ong

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04748-6
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 23, no. 1
pp. 1 – 17

Abstract

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Abstract Background Medical education has enjoyed mixed fortunes nurturing professional identity formation (PIF), or how medical students think, feel and act as physicians. New data suggests that structured mentoring programs like the Palliative Medicine Initiative (PMI) may offer a means of developing PIF in a consistent manner. To better understand how a well-established structured research mentoring program shapes PIF, a study of the experiences of PMI mentees is proposed. Methodology Acknowledging PIF as a sociocultural construct, a Constructivist approach and Relativist lens were adopted for this study. In the absence of an effective tool, the Ring Theory of Personhood (RToP) and Krishna-Pisupati Model (KPM) model were used to direct this dual Systematic Evidence-Based Approach (Dual-SEBA) study in designing, employing and analysing semi-structured interviews with PMI mentees and mentoring diaries. These served to capture changes in PIF over the course of the PMI’s mentoring stages. Transcripts of the interviews and mentoring diaries were concurrently analysed using content and thematic analysis. Complementary themes and categories identified from the Split Approach were combined using the Jigsaw Approach and subsequently compared with mentoring diaries in the Funnelling Process. The domains created framed the discussion. Results A total of 12 mentee interviews and 17 mentoring diaries were analysed, revealing two domains—PMI as a Community of Practice (CoP) and Identity Formation. The domains confirmed the centrality of a structured CoP capable of facilitating longitudinal mentoring support and supporting the Socialisation Process along the mentoring trajectory whilst cultivating personalised and enduring mentoring relationships. Conclusion The provision of a consistent mentoring approach and personalised, longitudinal mentoring support guided along the mentoring trajectory by structured mentoring assessments lay the foundations for more effective mentoring programs. The onus must now be on developing assessment tools, such as a KPM-based tool, to guide support and oversight of mentoring relationships.

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