Dataset Information

Revalidation of the Mentoring Competency Assessment to evaluate skills of research mentors: The MCA-21.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The Mentoring Competency Assessment (MCA) is an example of a validated instrument for measuring mentor skills for postsecondary Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine research. The purpose of this study was to revalidate the MCA scale using a larger, more diverse population since the original MCA was validated on a small sample of predominantly senior white male faculty.

Methods

The MCA was completed by 1626 mentors from a survey data set of 1759 respondents who participated in eight or more hours of face-to-face Entering Mentoring-based training between 2010 and 2019. We conducted principal component analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation to investigate the internal structure of the MCA and Hatcher's criteria were applied. After a team of mentoring experts independently interpreted the PCA results and reached a consensus on the interpretations of the components, factor analysis and internal consistency reliability analysis were applied to assess the construct validity and the reliability.

Results

While the 26-item MCA instrument was originally validated with six subscales, through the factor and reliability analyses, all the parameter estimates for each item of seven components of 24-item MCA were significant and had relatively high internal consistency; the alpha coefficient for the components ranged from 0.77 to 0.86.

Conclusions

Five items from the MCA have been dropped, leaving a condensed 21 item scale (MCA-21) which loads onto six competencies, and should now be used to effectively measure mentoring skills. We provide recommendations for furthering the scale development and validation of common measures.

SUBMITTER: Hyun SH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9108003 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Revalidation of the Mentoring Competency Assessment to evaluate skills of research mentors: The MCA-21.

Hyun So Hee SH Rogers Jenna G JG House Stephanie C SC Sorkness Christine A CA Pfund Christine C

Journal of clinical and translational science 20220401 1

<h4>Introduction</h4>The Mentoring Competency Assessment (MCA) is an example of a validated instrument for measuring mentor skills for postsecondary Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine research. The purpose of this study was to revalidate the MCA scale using a larger, more diverse population since the original MCA was validated on a small sample of predominantly senior white male faculty.<h4>Methods</h4>The MCA was completed by 1626 mentors from a survey data set of 1759 ...[more]

PMID: 35651961

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Project description:INTRODUCTION:Outcome-based approaches to education and the inherent emphasis on programmatic assessment in particular, require models of mentoring in which mentors fulfil dual roles: coach and assessor. Fulfilling multiple roles could result in role confusion or even role conflicts, both of which may affect mentoring processes and outcomes. In this study, we explored how mentors conceptualise and enact their role in a multiple-role mentoring system and to what extent they experience role conflicts. METHODS:We conducted a constructivist grounded theory study at one undergraduate medical school. A purposive sample of 12 physician-mentors active in a programmatic assessment system was interviewed. Data analysis followed stages of open, axial and selective coding through which themes were constructed. RESULTS:Three predominant mentoring approaches were constructed: (i) empowering (a reflective and holistic approach to student development); (ii) checking (an observant approach to check whether formal requirements are met), and (iii) directing (an authoritative approach to guide students' professional development). Each approach encompassed a corresponding type of mentor-mentee relationship: (i) partnership; (ii) instrumental, and (iii) faculty-centred. Furthermore, mentors' strategies, focus, agency provided to students and perception of the assessment system characterised mentoring approaches and relationships. Role conflicts were mainly experienced by mentors with a directing mentoring approach. They used various coping mechanisms, including deviation from assessment guidelines. CONCLUSIONS:In multiple-role mentoring in the context of programmatic assessment, mentors adopted certain predominant mentoring approaches, which were characterised by different strategies for mentoring and resulted in different mentor-mentee relationships. Multiple-role mentoring does not necessarily result in role conflict. Mentors who do experience role conflict seem to favour the directing approach, which is most at odds with key principles of competency-based education and programmatic assessment. These findings build upon existing mentoring literature and offer practical suggestions for faculty development regarding approaches to mentoring in programmatic assessment systems.

Project description:BackgroundMentoring relationships play a critical but poorly understood role in mentoring's overall success. To overcome these knowledge gaps, a study of mentee experiences in the Palliative Medicine Initiative, a structured research-based mentoring program, is proposed. The program's clearly described mentoring approach, competency-based mentoring stages and curated mentoring environment ensure a consistent mentoring experience. It provides a unique platform to study mentoring relationships longitudinally and its implications on professional identity formation.MethodologyThe Tool Design Systematic Evidence-Based Approach methodology is used to map and employ current understanding. A review of recent reviews on mentoring processes, mentoring's effects, professional identity formation and professional identity formation assessment tools lay the foundation for the design of semi-structured interviews and mentoring diaries to evaluate the characteristics of successful mentoring relationships and mentoring's impact on professional identity formation. The data accrued from these tools were evaluated using this methodology whilst changes in professional identity formation were assessed using the Ring Theory of Personhood.ResultsThe semi-structured interviews revealed four themes: stakeholders, mentoring stages, mentoring relationships and professional identity formation whilst the mentoring diaries revealed two: mentoring processes and mentoring relationships. Two final domains emerged - mentoring relationships and professional identity formation.ConclusionsThe Palliative Medicine Initiative's structured stage-based mentoring approach, trained stakeholders, curated environment, assessment-directed and personalized mentoring support reveal seven developmental stages of mentoring relationships. These culminate in changes to the values, beliefs and principles that shape how mentees see, feel and act as professionals. These findings suggest that mentoring programs may help to further develop and fine-tune their professional identity formation.

Project description:BackgroundMentoring plays a pivotal role in workplace-based learning, especially in the medical realm. Organising a formal mentoring programme can be labor and time intensive and generally impractical in resource constrained medical schools with limited numbers of mentors. Hence, informal mentoring offers a valuable alternative, but will be more likely to be effective when mentors and protégés share similar views. It is therefore important to gain more insight into factors influencing perceptions of informal mentoring. This study aims to explore mentors and protégés' perceptions of informal mentoring and how these vary (or not) with gender, age and the duration of the relationship.MethodWe administered an Informal Mentor Role Instrument (IMRI) to medical practitioners and academics from Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire was developed for the study from other validated instruments. It contained 39 items grouped into 7 domains: acceptance, counselling, friendship, parenting, psychological support, role modelling and sociability.ResultsA total of 103 mentors and 91 protégés completed the IMRI. Mentors had a better appreciation for the interpersonal aspects of informal mentoring than protégés, especially regarding acceptance, counselling and friendship. Moreover, being older and engaged in a longer mentoring relationship contributed to more positive perceptions of interpersonal aspects of mentoring, regardless of one's role (mentor or protégé).ConclusionIt can be concluded that the expectations of mentors and protégés differed regarding the content and aim of the interpersonal characteristics of their mentoring relationship. We recommend mentors and protégés to more explicitly exchange their expectations of the informal mentoring relationship, as typically practiced in formal mentoring. Additionally, in our study, seniority and lasting relationships seem crucial for good informal mentoring. It appears beneficial to foster lasting informal mentoring relationships and to give more guidance to younger mentors.

Project description:ImportanceSustainment of comprehensive procedural skills in trauma surgery is a particular problem for surgeons in rural, global, and combat settings. Trauma care often requires open surgical procedures for low-frequency/high-risk injuries at a time when open surgical experience is declining in general and trauma surgery training.ObjectiveTo determine whether general surgeons participating in a 2-day standardized trauma skills course demonstrate measurable improvement in accuracy and independent performance of specific trauma skills.Design, setting, and participantsGeneral surgeons in active surgical practice were enrolled from a simulation center with anatomic laboratory from October 2019 to October 2020. Differences in pretraining/training and posttraining performance outcomes were examined using (1) pretraining/posttraining surveys, (2) pretraining/posttraining knowledge assessment, and (3) training/posttraining faculty assessment. Analysis took place in November 2020.InterventionsA 2-day standardized, immersive, cadaver-based skills course, developed with best practices in instructional design, that teaches and assesses 24 trauma surgical procedures was used.Main outcomes and measuresTrauma surgery capability, as measured by confidence, knowledge, abilities, and independent performance of specific trauma surgical procedures; 3-month posttraining skill transfer.ResultsThe study cohort included 65 active-duty general surgeons, of which 16 (25%) were women and 49 (75%) were men. The mean (SD) age was 38.5 (4.2) years. Before and during training, 1 of 65 participants (1%) were able to accurately perform all 24 procedures without guidance. After course training, 64 participants (99%) met the benchmark performance requirements for the 24 trauma procedures, and 51 (78%) were able to perform them without guidance. Procedural confidence and knowledge increased significantly from before to after the course. At 3 months after training, 37 participants (56%) reported skill transfer to trauma or other procedures.Conclusions and relevanceIn this study, direct measurement of procedural performance following standardized training demonstrated significant improvement in skill performance in a broad array of trauma procedures. This model may be useful for assessment of procedural competence in other specialties.

Project description:The growing application of social network-based theories and methods (Burt et al., 2013) in scholarship on mentoring illustrates that mentoring goes beyond dyadic relationships comprising a senior mentor and a junior protégé (Higgins & Kram, 2001). However, limited data exist on the state of developmental networks of university faculty. This study examines developmental network characteristics among mentors and mentees participating in an ongoing intervention that aims to enhance career success through improved mentoring. Cross-sectional data come from 81 faculty mentors and mentees at three universities in the Southwestern United States. Using the online Modified Mentoring Network Questionnaire (MNQ), participants provided information on relationships with developers, who are people that have taken concerted action, and provided professional and/or personal guidance to help participants advance in their careers. An individual's developmental network comprises relationships with developers. We conducted exploratory analyses examining key characteristics of mentors' and mentees' developmental networks. Participants received psychosocial and career support from an average of 4.9 developers (4.8 and 5.1 for mentors and mentees respectively) from 2.3 arenas (2.2 and 2.4 arenas for mentors and mentees, respectively). While the most common arena was the respondents' current job/position (62%, 64% and 59% for all participants, mentors, and mentees respectively), developers were from graduate school (11%, 6% and 17%); prior jobs/positions (13%, 16% and 9%) and family (8%, 5% and 11%). Our preliminary findings suggest that developers are important for university faculty and that methods and insights from social network analysis can be applied to examine their support networks. As our study is part of an ongoing longitudinal intervention, these findings will inform future analyses that will examine changes in developmental network characteristics and its impact on participants' careers.

Dataset Information

Revalidation of the Mentoring Competency Assessment to evaluate skills of research mentors: The MCA-21.

Introduction

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Revalidation of the Mentoring Competency Assessment to evaluate skills of research mentors: The MCA-21.

Similar Datasets

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