Hui Ting CHNG1, * and Golda Zhizhen WANG2
1Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Science, NUS
2Department of Pharmacy, Alexandra Hospital, Singapore
Chng, H. T., & Wang, G. Z. (2024). Exploring the potential of mentorship programmes in supporting students’ wellbeing [Paper presentation]. In Higher Education Conference in Singapore (HECS) 2024, 3 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecs/hecs2024-chng-wang/
SUB-THEME
Opportunities from Wellbeing
KEYWORDS
Mentorship, wellbeing
CATEGORY
Paper Presentation
INTRODUCTION
Mentorship plays an important role in the academic and professional development of individuals across various fields. Effective mentorship is not only beneficial for enhancing learning outcomes and career advancement, but could potentially impact the wellbeing of mentees. Burnout, defined by the World Health Organization as a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed, is characterised by: (1) Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, (2) Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job, and (3) Reduced professional efficacy. Health professions students are particularly susceptible to burnout due to intense academic pressures, long hours, and emotional demands (Dyrbye et al., 2006; Hirsch et al., 2009; Ishak et al., 2013). Effective mentorship can mitigate burnout in various ways. Mentors can provide a social support system (Haase, 2020), role-model (Hagemann et al., 2020) and foster resilience among mentees, a quality that protects against burnout (Tan et al., 2022). Mentors can also provide advice on work-life balance (Raub et al., 2015).
Since 2021, an alumni mentorship programme (INSPIRxE) for pharmacy and pharmaceutical science undergraduates in the National University of Singapore (NUS) was launched where alumni mentors mentored students for nine months-long in a group format. The aim of the programme is for mentees to enhance their skills and knowledge, seek feedback for personal and professional development, and gain insights about their passion and interests. While it was not formally briefed to mentors and mentees that the mentorship programme could also support mentees’ wellbeing, topics on managing stress, conflicts, and work-life balance were included in the mentor/mentee guidebook as suggested discussion topics.
This presentation explores the potential of mentorship programmes in supporting students’ wellbeing. Specifically, we present findings from NUS Academic Year (AY) 2022/23 INSPIRxE, evaluating if the topic of burnout was discussed amongst mentors and mentees.
METHODS
In AY2022/23, 38 mentees were mentored by 22 alumni mentors in 11 groups. Mentors and mentees were invited to participate in a survey to evaluate the impact of INSPIRxE on mentee’s professional development in terms of knowledge, skills and attitude. A subset of five questions related to burnout was included in the survey to assess if mentees and mentors discussed this topic during their interactions.
RESULTS
Thirty-six (95%) mentees and 16 (73%) mentors responded to the survey. After being presented with the WHO definition of burnout, 63.9% of the mentees agreed that they were experiencing burnout in their studies. 47.2% felt that their mentors taught them strategies to prevent burnout. This was comparable to 68.8% of mentors who responded that they taught their mentees strategies to prevent burnout. 52.9% of mentees felt that they were inclined to approach their mentors in times of difficulty. This was consistent with 43.8% of mentors who agreed that their mentees approached them in times of difficulty.
CONCLUSION
The extent of burnout reported by the mentees was alarming. While providing support on wellbeing was never specified in the aims of the mentorship programme, it is heartening to note that mentees sought mentors’ support during challenging times, and mentors provided tips on ways to prevent burnout. In the context of INSPIRxE, the alumni mentors are working adults with rich work and life experiences. These mentors bring in a different dimension of advice which complements that of academic mentors. We posit that students may feel less inhibited to confide with the alumni mentors especially if the concerns are studies related. They may also trust the advice of the alumni mentors given their wealth of experience in the “real-world”. Our findings suggest that mentorship programmes hold a great potential in supporting students’ wellbeing.
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