Mentorship can provide a safe environment for emerging professionals to learn about the unwritten rules of the Health Services Research field and provide a valuable experience both for the mentee and mentor. It also gives diverse mentees a chance to see their own identities reflected in positions of power. Recently at the 2022 Annual Research Meeting, panelists from the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Nursing Issues’ (IRGNI) Emerging Diversity Leadership and the Health Economics Interest Group’s mentorship program came together to discuss their mentorship models and the most effective ways to better your mentorship relationship.
IRGNI’s Emerging Diversity Leaders (EDL) program uses a group mentorship model, where a small peer group meets with mentors as a cohort, while the Health Economics IG mentorship program uses an individual membership model. Both approaches provide valuable information for mentors and mentees. To bring in the best aspects of each mentor model, AcademyHealth has created an advisory board for these two programs.
Whether you are seeking a mentor, mentee, or want to enhance an existing mentor relationship, the following tips will help you advance your career.
Group Mentorship
In nursing academia, only 15.9 percent of full-time faculty belong to a racial and ethnic minority group. Over the past few years, the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Nursing Issues (IRGNI) developed their Emerging Diversity Leaders (EDL) program to coach and mentor diverse students and early career professionals. This program started organically from the obvious need to nurture and encourage diversity in the nursing and health services research workforce. The EDL program is unique in that each year a new cohort of leaders are selected and go through a group mentorship experience.
Panelists at ARM expressed that the benefits of group mentorship is a built-in support group, which brings together people with likeminded struggles. Mentees can express needs that may be difficult to discuss with assigned faculty members. Mentees can also speak about instances of discrimination openly in a safe space, which can be difficult with traditional one-on-one mentorship models. Another benefit of the EDL program is the opportunity to publish with mentors and the larger group. IRGNI and the EDL were helpful, specifically, in helping leaders who are interested in pursuing Health Services Research rather than clinical research. Additionally, being part of a larger group gives an opportunity for mentees to celebrate their achievements with each other and give encouragement when needed.
Individual Mentoring
The Health Economics Interest Group created a more traditional one-to-one mentorship model to connect early career health economics PhDs at smaller institutions to mentors who are more senior in the field. Panelist Eric Roberts, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and manages the Health Economic mentorship program. The program consists of one-hour meetings once a month. Mentees typically send something specific to their mentors that they are currently working on for mentors to review and provide feedback. Mentees routinely give positive feedback about this program and model. Dr. Roberts does all the matching himself to ensure appropriate and beneficial relationships are made – though it is a time and labor-intensive process. In its inaugural year, the program has successfully matched 13 early career professionals to senior mentors.
Best Practices of Mentorship
Despite the different program models, panelists representing both EDL and Health Economics IG had similar advice for future mentors and mentees.
- Have clear expectations: Current mentees during the panel noted that although it can be difficult, it is important to be brave and state your needs and what you hope to gain from your mentorship experience. Formal memorandum of understanding (MOUs) can increase stress for both the mentee and mentor as it can feel like an added layer of “work”. That being said, having defined goals and expectations can help mentors and mentees to be action-oriented and reduce uncertainty. It is important for mentees to drive the relationship. In peer-mentoring, MOUs or community agreements can establish shared goals and expectations. Mentors in both models should also make sure to continue to show up to build trust and credibility with their mentees.
- Be flexible and intentional: Mentoring can happen in lots of ways – it doesn’t always have to be in the traditional and structured models. In the EDL model, panelists remarked that instead of the traditional hierarchy they had created an environment of equals, allowing to build a strong community. No matter what form or structure mentorship takes, it is essential in building the skills, knowledge, and network of an early career researcher. While IG members were intentional about seeking mentorship, being flexible about what mentorship “looks like” led to a dynamic environment with rich opportunities for mentee/mentor learning.
- Mutual respect is paramount: Panelists implored other mentors to look at mentees as humans and make them feel valued. One panelist stated, “we are all adults”, and therefore mutual respect is paramount. Mentees were asked to respect and honor the time of their mentors, as well. Mentorship is not only a top-down approach and mentors have a lot to learn from mentees as well. One of the panelist also expressed how important it is to always use a lens of intersectionality to see where privilege and advantages are in any given system to help dismantle it
Throughout the field, identifying a positive mentorship relationship is one of the top priorities for emerging professionals. All AcademyHealth members can join an interest group to help enhance their career and assist in finding a mentorship relationship. Learn more about other benefits of joining an interest group here.