Elodie Tendoh, PharmD, MSc.
PGY-1 Pharmacy Resident
University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center
“A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself” Oprah Winfrey During my time in pharmacy school, I was met with many opportunities that required me to make critical decisions and there were many people who trusted me and gave me the confidence l needed to pursue the opportunities that came my way. In my second year, one of the student leaders motivated me to pursue a leadership position which I thought of as a being above my capabilities. This fellow student saw in me what I couldn’t see in myself and encouraged me to pursue the opportunity. Because I trusted this senior student’s observation, I accepted the challenge. This exposed me to numerous opportunities and taught me skills that aided in my professional and personal development.
Andragogy which is defined as the art and science of adult learning sets expectations for learners to excel in their learning experience through intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors1. Stephen Pew in his article on pedagogy and andragogy as foundational theory for student’s motivation discussed the importance of intrinsic motivators in andragogy and their role in fostering the learner’s ability to employ strategies that demand more effort and enable them to process information more deeply1. Mentorship plays a vital role in nurturing these intrinsic learning behaviors.
Fruiht and Chan, in their study on naturally occurring mentorship in a national sample of first-generation college goers, found that this was a promising portal for academic and developmental Success2. The study had 4181 participants and their primary objective was to find a significant interaction between having a parent who attended college with having a mentor. They expected that mentoring would moderate the relationship between parental educational attainment and one’s own educational attainment. They also compared the primary functions of mentoring relationship in first generation college students to the mentoring functions received by continuing generation students and young people who did not attend college. Seventy-six percent of the participants reported having natural mentors whose role included but not limited to support for goal striving, explicit identity development, and teaching social skills. The participants used words like coach, parent-like, friend, etc., to describe their mentor’s role in their lives.
Having a college degree is important to secure future financial stability and positive developmental outcomes in adulthood3.Parents play a vital role as motivators to their adult children however parents who did not attend college are not able to play this role. That is why mentoring relationships are very important and they have been demonstrated to promote positive academic and developmental outcomes for young people of many backgrounds4. The findings of this study suggest that mentors can serve as compensatory resources to first generation college students. The authors concluded that naturally occurring mentorship relationships equalize the social and cultural capital which young people garner from their communities and it predicts long term academic success.
Pharmacy education recognizes the need for mentorship for both students and junior staff members. Sharif in an article on mentoring in pharmacy education and practice expand on the benefits of mentoring to the mentor and the mentee5. He believes that in a good mentoring relationship, the mentor learns and grows from their mentee as they help them to problem solve and develop professional and personal goals. He also points out the role of peer mentors to pharmacy students, pairing experienced senior students with junior students to ease their integration and aid in familiarizing them with the curriculum and general expectations.
Several pharmacy schools including the University of Maryland Baltimore, the University of North Caroline Eshelman School of Pharmacy, etc. have embraced the role of peer mentors by creating mentorship programs between their students and undergraduates who are interested in pursuing a career in Pharmacy. Creating these personalized relationships foster connections and increase the prospective students access to knowledge ensuring that they make informed decisions.
Mentorship is very important in the development of adult learners whose training and learning is highly dependent on factors such as their level of motivation. Having a mentor who is well accomplished inspires learners and builds the confidence they need to achieve their educational and professional goals.
References:
1. Pew S. Andragogy and Pedagogy as Foundational Theory for Student Motivation in Higher Education. Eric.ed.gov. 2020. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ864274. Accessed October 3, 2020.
2. Fruiht V, Chan T. Naturally Occurring Mentorship in a National Sample of First-Generation College Goers: A Promising Portal for Academic and Developmental Success. Am J Community Psychol. 2018;61 (3-4):386-397. doi:10.1002/ajcp.12233
3. Trostel PA, Chase M. It’s not just the money: The benefits of college education to individuals and to society. Lumina Issue Papers. 2015 Retrieved from https://www.luminafoundation.org/files/resources/its-not-just-the-money.pdf.
4. Miranda-Chan T, Fruiht V, Dubon V, Wray-Lake L. The Functions and Longitudinal Outcomes of Adolescents' Naturally Occurring Mentorships. Am J Community Psychol. 2016;57(1-2):47-59. doi:10.1002/ajcp.12031
5. Sharif SI. Mentoring in Pharmacy Education and Practice. J Pharma Care Health Sys. 2014; 1: e115. doi:10.4172/2376-0419.1000e115
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