Mentoring Perceptions and Experiences among Nigerian Undergraduate Dental Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61172/ndj.v32i1.263Keywords:
Body-mass percentile, skeletal maturationAbstract
Introduction: Mentoring among undergraduate dental students in Nigeria has never been evaluated, despite being well reported, to improve academic performance and learning process globally. This study assessed perceptions and experiences of Nigerian undergraduate dental students to mentoring.
Materials and Methods: A sample of 382 students was recruited across all the thirteen Nigerian dental faculties. A self-administered online questionnaire prepared on google form was sent to the students for completion. The completed forms were analyzed using SPSS version 20. Descriptive and analytical statistics were applied, and set the statistical significant level at P<0.05.
Results: The students showed a very good knowledge of mentoring (99.0%) and an adequate understanding of the role of a mentor (67.3%). Many students had experienced mentoring prior to their dental training; mainly from religious institutions (60.0%). The majority (96.1%) of the students would have preferred to be mentored at the start of their training; however, only 21.2% had assigned mentors. More than half (57.6%) of the students would have preferred to choose their mentor, and the majority (43.2%) were indifferent about gender preference of a mentor. About two-thirds of the students perceived career development as the most important reason for mentoring. The benefits of mentoring were ranked very highly, especially among the female students. Gender was the only predictor for successful mentoring (P< 0.05).
Conclusions: Dental students reported low faculty mentoring. Career development was perceived as the most important factor in mentoring. Students recommended that mentoring should be incorporated into the dental curriculum right from the commencement of their training.
Keywords: mentoring, perceptions, experiences, dental students, Nigerian undergraduates
References
Swe KMM, Bhardwaj A. Mentoring undergraduate students: perception of medical and dental faculties on undergraduate mentoring programs. J Educ, Soci and Behav Sci 2020;33(2):55-61
Somefun OD, Adebayo KO. The role of mentoring in research ecosystem in Sub-saharan Africa: Some experiences through the CARTA opportunity. Global Public Health, 2020 DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2020.1776365
Penner R. Mentoring in higher education. Direct J 2001;30:45-52
Aagaard EM, Hauer KE. A cross-sectional descriptive study of mentoring formed by medical students. J Gen Intern Med 2003;18:298-302.
Bozeman B, Feeney MK. Toward a useful theory of mentoring: A conceptual analysis and critique. Administration and Society 2007;39:719-739
Gironda M, Bibb CA, Lefever K, Law CS. A program to recruit and mentor future academic dentists: successes and challenges. J Dent Educ 2013;77:292-299
Nimmons D, Giny S, Rosenthal J. Medical student mentoring programs: current insight. Adv Med Educ Pract 2019;10:113-123.
Steele S. Mentoring in Dentistry: promoting growth and development. www.oralhealthgroup.com/features/mentoring-in-dentistry-promoting-growth-and-development/ Accessed September 15, 2020.
Schrubbe KF. Mentorship: a critical component for professional growth and academic success. J Dent Educ. 2004;68:324-328.
Fox A, Stevenson L, Connelly PB, Duff A. Peer-mentoring undergraduate accounting students: the influence on approaches to learning and academic performance. Active Learning in Higher Educ 2010;11:145-156.
Argente-Linares E, Perez-Lopez M, Carmen M, Ordonez-Solana C. Practical experience of blended mentoring in higher education. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning 2016;24:399-414.
Peretomode V, Ikoya P. Mentorship: a strategic technique for achieving excellence, manpower development and nation building? Mediterranean J Soc Sci 2019;10:17-24.
Eby LT, Allen TD, Evans SC, Ng T, Dubois D. Does mentoring matter? A multidisciplinary meta-analysis comparing mentored to non-mentored individuals. J Vocat Behav 2008;72:254-267.
Holt VP, Ladwa R. Mentoring. a quality assurance tool for dentists part 1: the need for mentoring in dental practice. Prim Dent Care 2008;15:141-146
Brooks J. Let’s get serious about mentoring. Br Dent J. 2018;224:72-73.
Anderson EM, Shannon AL. Towards a conceptualization of mentoring. Journal of Teacher Educ 1988; 39:38-42.
McLaughlin C. Mentoring: what is it? How do we do it and how do we get more of it? Health Serv Res 2010;45:871-884.
Mellon A, Murdoch-Eaton D. Supervisor or mentor: is there a difference? Implication for Paed Pract. Arch Dis Child 2015;100:873-878.
Rashid P, Narra M, Woo H. Mentoring in surgical training. ANZ J Surg. 2015;85:225-229.
Yamane T. Statistics: An introductory analysis, 1967. 2nd Edition. Harper and Row.New York.
Hauer KE, Teherani A, Dechet A, Aagaard EM. Medical students’ perception of mentoring: a focus group analysis. Medical Teacher 2005;27:732-739.
Frie E, Stamm M, Buddeberg-Fischer B. Mentoring programs for medical students- a review of Pubmed literature 2000-2008. BMC Med Educ. 2010;10:32. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-10-32
Isibor A, Akuso A, Unobe ES. Academic mentoring and the future of tertiary education in Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Guidance and Counselling. 2016; 21:111-116.
Al-Jewair T, Herbert AK, Leggitt VL, et al. Evaluation of faculty mentoring practices in seven U.S dental schools. J Dent Educ. 2019; 83:1392-1401.
Nakanjako D, Katamba A, Kaye DK, Okello E, Kamya MR, Sewankambo N, Mayanga-Kizza H. Doctoral training in Uganda: Evaluation of mentoring best practices at Makerere University College of Health Sciences. BMC Med Educ. 2014; 1: 9. https://doi.org/10.1186/14726920-14-9
Sawatsky AP, Parekh N, Muula AS, Mbata I, Bui T. Cultural implications of mentoring in sub-Saharan Africa: A qualitative study. Med Educ. 2016; 50: 657-669. https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.12999
Taylor JS, Faghri S, Aggarwal N, Zeller K, Dollase R, Reis SP. Developing a peer-mentor program for medical students. Teach learn Med. 2013; 25:97-102
Choudhury N, Khanwalkar A, Kraininger J, Vohra A, Jones K, Reddy S. Peer mentorship in student-run free clinics: the impact on pre-clinical education. Fam Med. 2014;46:204-208.
Karpa K, Vakharia K, Caruso CA, Vechery C, Sippel L, Wang A. Medical student service learning program teaches secondary students about career opportunities in health and medical fields. Adv Physiol Educ. 2015; 39:315-319
Leck J, Orser B, Riding A. An examination of gender influences in career mentoring. Canad J Admin Sci/Revue Canadienne des Sciences de l’Administration. 2009; 26:211-229.
Ekechukwu RO, Horsfall MN. Academic mentoring in higher education: A strategy to quality assurance in teacher education in Nigeria. Eur J Res Reflec in Educ Sci. 2015; 3:37-45.
Scandura TA, Williams EA. An investigation of the moderating effects of gender on the relationships between mentorship initiation and protégé perceptions of mentoring functions. J Voc Behav. 2001; 59: 342-363.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Bolu Adeoti, Olayinka D Otuyemi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Open Access Statement
- We became fully Open Access since January 2023.
- Our new and archived materials are available free of charge on open basis and under a Creative Commons license as stated below.
Copyright statement
Copyright © 1999 The authors. This work, Nigerian Dental Journal by Nigerian Dental Association is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
