Peer mentorship: student perceptions and needs

Abstract

This paper reports on a small research project aiming to better understand what students in health, wellbeing and social care programmes want from a peer mentoring programme. Two surveys were conducted in 2018 and 2019 respectively, followed by interviews with Health, Wellbeing and Social Care students. The survey results from the two years suggest that approximately 60% of students would be interested in having a mentor while around 50% would offer mentoring to others. Mentoring was framed as a one-to-one continuous and informal relationship in which students communicate by phone, text or face-to-face. Students wanted mentors who offered peer-assisted learning and met their psychosocial needs. Their preferred mentor was a caring and approachable person who could work with integrity. Mentors offered ‘insider knowledge’ arising out of experience studying distance learning modules. Recommendations are made for role definition and dimensions, mentor selection, training and support.