mentorship

Exploring The Potential Of Mentorship Programmes In Supporting Students’ Wellbeing

cdtlsd Paper Presentations , ,

Hui Ting CHNG1, * and Golda Zhizhen WANG2

1Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Science, NUS
2Department of Pharmacy, Alexandra Hospital, Singapore

*phacht@nus.edu.sg

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.

REFERENCES

Dyrbye, L. N., Thomas, M. R., & Shanafelt, T. D. (2006). Systematic review of depression, anxiety, and other indicators of psychological distress among U.S. and Canadian medical students. Acad Med, 81(4), 354-373. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001888-200604000-00009

Haase, K. K. (2020). Addressing burnout in clinical pharmacy: What can we learn from other health care disciplines? JACCP: JOURNAL OF THE American College of Clinical Pharmacy, 3(3), 645-654. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/jac5.1189

Hagemann, T. M., Reed, B. N., Bradley, B. A., Clements, J. N., Cohen, L. J., Coon, S. A., Derington, C. G., DiScala, S. L., El-Ibiary, S., Lee, K. C., May, A., Oh, S., Phillips, J. A., & Rogers, K. M. (2020). Burnout among clinical pharmacists: Causes, interventions, and a call to action. JACCP: Journal of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, 3(4), 832-842. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/jac5.1256

Hirsch, J. D., Do, A. H., Hollenbach, K. A., Manoguerra, A. S., & Adler, D. S. (2009). Students’ health-related quality of life across the preclinical pharmacy curriculum. Am J Pharm Educ, 73(8), 147. https://doi.org/10.5688/aj7308147

Ishak, W., Nikravesh, R., Lederer, S., Perry, R., Ogunyemi, D., & Bernstein, C. (2013). Burnout in medical students: a systematic review. Clin Teach, 10(4), 242-245. https://doi.org/10.1111/tct.12014

Raub, J. N., Thurston, T. M., Fiorvento, A. D., Mynatt, R. P., & Wilson, S. S. (2015). Implementation and outcomes of a pharmacy residency mentorship programme. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 72(11_Supplement_1), S1-S5. https://doi.org/10.2146/ajhp140884

Tan, Y. Z., Chong, J. J., Chew, L. S. T., Tan, K. H., & Wang, A. (2022). Burnout and resilience among pharmacists: A Singapore study. JACCP: Journal of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, 5(1), 75-84. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/jac5.1551

A Sense of Belonging – What It Means To Science Students

cdtlsd Paper Presentations , , ,

LIU Mei Hui1*, YONG Lai Cheng2, and CHNG Shu Sin3

1Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Science (FOS)
2Department of Mathematics, FOS
3Science Dean’s Office, FOS

*fstlmh@nus.edu.sg

 

Liu, M. H., Yong, L. C., & Chng, S. S. (2024). A sense of belonging – What it means to Science students [Paper presentation]. In Higher Education Conference in Singapore (HECS) 2024, 3 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecs/hecs2024-liu-et-al/

SUB-THEME

Opportunities from Wellbeing

 

KEYWORDS

Belonging, community, mentorship

 

CATEGORY

Paper Presentation 

 

INTRODUCTION

Learning environments within the university can facilitate social interactions and collaborations, and that formal and informal interactions in such spaces are related to an increased sense of belonging (Peacock & Cowan, 2019). A greater sense of belonging also correlates to better wellbeing and mental health outcomes (Gopalan et al., 2022). While there are several definitions to what a sense of belonging is, Van Ryzin’s (2011) concept of belonging as the perception of support students receive from their peers and teachers highlights the importance of meaningful interactions in a student’s education experience.

 

Despite the value, understanding what affects a student’s sense of belonging, especially in the Asian context (Tambyah & Mukhopadhyay, 2018), is limited. Students spend the majority of their time at the university to learn in spaces where they also interact with teachers and faculty staff. However, we are unclear how different types of interactions in these spaces may influence a student’s sense of belonging. Therefore, our research questions are as follows:

 

  1. What are the types of student-teacher/staff interactions within the faculty that may contribute to students’ sense of belonging?
  2. What are other factors that contribute to students’ sense of belonging to the faculty?

 

METHODOLOGY

In 2022, graduating students from the Faculty of Science (FOS) were invited to participate in an exit survey. The graduating cohort were students who underwent in-person learning in Years 1 and 2 (pre-COVID) and online/hybrid learning in Years 3 and 4 (COVID). The exit survey consists of a series of questions related to their experience in the university, and the questions analysed here are a subset of questions in the whole survey. Both quantitative and qualitative data relevant to our research question were analysed. A total of 125 unique respondents were collected and this represents 12.9% of the graduating cohort. There were respondents representing every department and programme in FOS.

 

RESULTS

Students were asked to rate, on a scale of 1 to 5, their sense of belonging to their Department. Among the respondents, 82 (64.6%) of the respondents rated their sense of belonging to be 3 and above. Next, all respondents were categorised into five groups according to their response to this question and further differentiated according to their response to three additional questions related to student-teacher interaction (Table 1). Their responses were counted and reported as a percentage within each group. In all groups, there was a high percentage of students (77-100%) who reported to have at least one person at NUS who made them excited about learning. However, less than 50% of students who rated 1 or 2 for their sense of belonging reported that they had someone who provided “value-add” beyond the classroom or have a mentor to guide them.

Table 1
Percentage of student responses to three statements within each subgroup of students who rated, from a scale of 1 to 5, for a sense of belonging. Red fonts represent percentages below 50% for ‘Yes”

HECS2024-a26-Table1

 

Students were further asked to explain their rating for the question on sense of belonging. When the responses of low raters and high raters were compared, several themes with contrasting comments between the two groups of raters were identified (Table 2).

Table 2
Thematic analysis of student qualitative response

HECS2024-a26-Table2

 

CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE

Our quantitative results suggest that having good teachers in the classroom may not be sufficient for students to have a sense of belonging with their learning spaces. Meaningful forms of interactions beyond the classroom are required to further cultivate this belonging. Our qualitative data further show that students look for a supportive environment of peers and teachers where they can feel connected and a belonging to a part of a community. Students also recognised the impact of the COVID pandemic on their sense of belonging. Students’ sense of belonging to their learning environment can be influenced by a number of factors, including student-teacher interactions or circumstantial changes like COVID-19 (Dost & Smith, 2023). Understanding the factors which affects the sense of belonging for our students can inform future strategies to enhance this quality, beyond only relying on resources that directly improve wellbeing.

 

REFERENCES

Gopalan, M., Linden-Carmichael, A., & Lanza, S. (2022). College students’ sense of belonging and mental health amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Adolescent Health 70(2): 228–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.10.010

Dost, G., & Smith, L M. (2023). Understanding higher education students’ sense of belonging: A qualitative meta-ethnographic analysis. Journal of Further and Higher Education 47(6), 822-849. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2023.2191176

Tambyah, S. K., & Mukhopadhyay, K. (2018). Belonging, engagement and growth: Evaluating learning outcomes of a residential college in the Asian context. Asian Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 8(2), 201-222. https://ctlt.nus.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/pdf_pastissuenov2018_article3_tambyah-kankana-1.pdf

Peacock, S., & Cowan, J. (2019). Promoting sense of belonging in online learning communities of inquiry in accredited courses. Online Learning, 23(2), 67–81. https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v23i2.1488

Van Ryzin, M. J. (2011). Protective factors at school: Reciprocal effects among adolescents’ perceptions of the school environment, engagement in learning, and hope. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40(12), 1568–1580. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-011-9637-7

 

 

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