Mentoring in academic medicine: a systematic review.
TL;DR: Practical recommendations on mentoring in medicine that are evidence-based will require studies using more rigorous methods, addressing contextual issues, and using cross-disciplinary approaches.
Abstract: ContextMentoring, as a partnership in personal and professional growth and development, is central to academic medicine, but it is challenged by increased clinical, administrative, research, and other educational demands on medical faculty. Therefore, evidence for the value of mentoring needs to be evaluated.ObjectiveTo systematically review the evidence about the prevalence of mentorship and its relationship to career development.Data SourcesMEDLINE, Current Contents, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PsycINFO, and Scopus databases from the earliest available date to May 2006.Study Selection and Data ExtractionWe identified all studies evaluating the effect of mentoring on career choices and academic advancement among medical students and physicians. Minimum inclusion criteria were a description of the study population and availability of extractable data. No restrictions were placed on study methods or language.Data SynthesisThe literature search identified 3640 citations. Review of abstracts led to retrieval of 142 full-text articles for assessment; 42 articles describing 39 studies were selected for review. Of these, 34 (87%) were cross-sectional self-report surveys with small sample size and response rates ranging from 5% to 99%. One case-control study nested in a survey used a comparison group that had not received mentoring, and 1 cohort study had a small sample size and a large loss to follow-up. Less than 50% of medical students and in some fields less than 20% of faculty members had a mentor. Women perceived that they had more difficulty finding mentors than their colleagues who are men. Mentorship was reported to have an important influence on personal development, career guidance, career choice, and research productivity, including publication and grant success.ConclusionsMentoring is perceived as an important part of academic medicine, but the evidence to support this perception is not strong. Practical recommendations on mentoring in medicine that are evidence-based will require studies using more rigorous methods, addressing contextual issues, and using cross-disciplinary approaches.
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TL;DR: It is demonstrated that mentoring is associated with a wide range of favorable behavioral, attitudinal, health-related, relational, motivational, and career outcomes, although the effect size is generally small.
833 citations
Cites background or result from "Mentoring in academic medicine: a s..."
...Reviews of youth (DuBois et al., 2002) and academic (Sambunjak et al., 2006) mentoring found an association between mentoring and both career and employment outcomes....
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...Another factor that could favor the effectiveness of academic mentoring is that this type of mentoring is often considered to be a core component of an institution’s mission (Sambunjak et al., 2006)....
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...We also crossreferenced quantitative reviews (Allen et al., 2004; Dorsey & Baker, 2004; DuBois et al., 2002; Sambunjak et al., 2006; Underhill, 2006), narrative reviews (e.g., Jacobi, 1991; Wanberg et al, 2003) and other major compendiums (e.g., Allen & Eby, in press; DuBois & Karcher, 2005) to…...
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...There are also reviews linking youth (DuBois et al., 2002), academic (Dorsey & Baker, 2004; Sambunjak et al., 2006) and workplace (Underhill, 2006) mentoring to psychological outcomes such as positive self-image, emotional adjustment, and psychological well-being, although similar to our findings,…...
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TL;DR: Drawing on the identity formation and socialization literature, as well as experience gained in teaching professionalism, the authors developed schematic representations of these processes and adapted them to the medical context to guide educators as they initiate educational interventions.
Abstract: Recent calls to focus on identity formation in medicine propose that educators establish as a goal of medical education the support and guidance of students and residents as they develop their professional identity. Those entering medical school arrive with a personal identity formed since birth. As
567 citations
TL;DR: A systematic review of the qualitative literature to explore and summarize the development, perceptions and experiences of the mentoring relationship in academic medicine found that successful mentoring requires commitment and interpersonal skills of the mentor and mentee, but also a facilitating environment at academic medicine's institutions.
Abstract: BACKGROUND
Mentorship is perceived to play a significant role in the career development and productivity of academic clinicians, but little is known about the characteristics of mentorship. This knowledge would be useful for those developing mentorship programs.
518 citations
TL;DR: This meta-analysis summarized youth, academic, and workplace research on the potential antecedents, correlates, and consequences of protégé perceptions of instrumental support, psychosocial support, and relationship quality to the mentor or to the relationship.
Abstract: This meta-analysis summarized youth, academic, and workplace research on the potential antecedents (demographics, human capital, and relationship attributes), correlates (interaction frequency, relationship length, performance, motivation, and social capital), and consequences (attitudinal, behavioral, career-related, and health-related outcomes) of protege perceptions of instrumental support, psychosocial support, and relationship quality to the mentor or to the relationship. A total of 173 meta-analytic correlations were computed based on data from 173 samples and a combined N of 40,737. Among antecedents, positive protege perceptions were most strongly associated with greater similarity in attitudes, values, beliefs, and personality with their mentors (ρ ranged from .38 to .59). Among correlates, protege perceptions of greater instrumental support (ρ = .35) and relationship quality (ρ = .54) were most strongly associated with social capital while protege perceptions of greater psychosocial support were most strongly associated with interaction frequency (ρ = .25). Among consequences, protege perceptions of greater instrumental support (ρ = .36) and relationship quality (ρ = .38) were most strongly associated with situational satisfaction while protege perceptions of psychosocial support were most highly associated with sense of affiliation (ρ = .41). Comparisons between academic and workplace mentoring generally revealed differences in magnitude, rather than direction, of the obtained effects. The results should be interpreted in light of the methodological limitations (primarily cross-sectional designs and single-source data) and, in some instances, a small number of primary studies.
426 citations
Additional excerpts
...…reviews (e.g., T. D. Allen et al., 2004; Dorsey & Baker, 2004; DuBois et al., 2002; Underhill, 2006), narrative reviews (e.g., Jacobi, 1991; Sambunjak et al., 2006; Wanberg et al., 2003), and other major compendiums (e.g., T. D. Allen & Eby, 2007; DuBois & Karcher, 2005) to identify…...
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TL;DR: Given the importance of mentorship on faculty members’ careers, future studies must address the association between a failed mentoring relationship and a faculty member’s career success, how to assess different approaches to mediatingfailed mentoring relationships, and how to evaluate strategies for effective mentorship throughout a faculty members' career.
Abstract: Purpose To explore the mentor–mentee relationship with a focus on determining the characteristics of effective mentors and mentees and understanding the factors influencing successful and failed mentoring relationships. Method
418 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, a power perspective is used to examine the linkage between diversity and mentorship in work organizations and the consequences associated with diversified and homogeneous relationships are examined using a dyadic approach.
Abstract: A power perspective is used to examine the linkage between diversity and mentorship in work organizations. Sociological perspectives on power and minority group relations are used to develop and operationalize the construct of diversified mentoring relationships in organizations. The article examines behavioral and perceptual processes underlying diversified mentoring relationships and explores the relationship between diversified mentoring relationships and other work relationships. The consequences associated with diversified and homogeneous relationships are examined using a dyadic approach. The article closes by offering research propositions and discussing several implications.
736 citations
TL;DR: This paper used structural equation modeling to investigate relationships among proteges' personality characteristics, initiation of mentoring, mentoring received, and career success for 147 managers and p... and p...
Abstract: We used structural equation modeling to investigate relationships among proteges' personality characteristics, initiation of mentoring, mentoring received, and career success for 147 managers and p...
706 citations
"Mentoring in academic medicine: a s..." refers background in this paper
...Management research has shown that personality characteristics can influence a person’s likelihood of receiving mentoring.(56) Individuals with good internal control, high self-monitoring skills, and emo-...
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...which in turn contributed to receiving actual mentoring and career success.(56) Similar research is needed in medical...
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined linkages between mentor leadership behaviors (laissez-faire, transactional contingent reward, and transformational), protege perception of mentoring functions received (career development and psychosocial support) and job-related stress of 204 mentor-protege dyads.
Abstract: This research examined linkages between mentor leadership behaviors (laissez-faire, transactional contingent reward, and transformational), protege perception of mentoring functions received (career development and psychosocial support) and job-related stress of 204 mentor–protege dyads. Results of Partial Least Squares analysis revealed that mentor transformational behavior was more positively related to mentoring functions received than transactional contingent reward behavior, while mentor laissez-faire behavior was negatively related to mentoring functions received. Both mentor transformational behavior and mentoring functions received were negatively related to protege job-related stress. The relationship between mentor transformational behavior and protege job-related stress was moderated by the level of mentoring functions received. Results are discussed as they relate to researchers and practitioners who are becoming interested in finding ways to develop organizational members and allay job-related stress. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
537 citations
TL;DR: Whether role models can still be an effective means of imparting professional values, attitudes, and behaviours in a health service that is increasingly sensitive to society's expectations is considered.
Abstract: The use of teaching staff as role models for professional behaviour has long been an informal part of medical training. The authors consider whether role models can still be an effective means of imparting professional values, attitudes, and behaviours in a health service that is increasingly sensitive to society's expectations
Role models—people we can identify with, who have qualities we would like to have, and are in positions we would like to reach—have been shown as a way to inculcate professional values, attitudes, and behaviours in students and young doctors. 1 2 Because good role models are seen as important in the making of a good doctor, we need to know more about them. What are the attributes young people look for in role models? Are these the attributes they really emulate? How do they react when they find that seniors lack these attributes? We consider these questions and whether we should rely on role models as a mechanism for developing doctors who are more patient centred and ethically sensitive.
#### Summary points
The attributes of medical role models have been the subject of several interesting studies. Wright and colleagues looked at physicians who had been identified as excellent role models by students and residents.3– …
412 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a quantitative meta-analytic review provides a critical analysis of the effectiveness of mentoring, with an emphasis on research designs that compared career outcomes of mentored individuals to non-mentored individuals.
363 citations