Securing Stakeholder Support for Entering Mentoring
Facilitator Recognition Program
Our Facilitator Recognition Program allows you to demonstrate your individual commitment to the local dissemination of research mentor training to support an inclusive scientific workforce. Growth of the biomedical research workforce would not be possible without the ongoing efforts of facilitators who implement research mentor trainings. CIMER is devoted to recognizing the achievements and dedication of these facilitators at various stages.
Evidence of effectiveness
Evidence of the effectiveness of the original research mentor training curriculum, Entering Mentoring1:
- A combination of qualitative and quantitative data indicate that compared to untrained mentors, the mentors who participated in Entering Mentoring assess their mentees’ skills and communicate with them more effectively. Moreover, undergraduate researchers indicated that they had a better experience with the trained, as compared to untrained, mentors.2
Evidence of the effectiveness of an adapted version of Entering Mentoring called Mentor Training for Clinical and Translational Researchers (this curriculum was shown to be effective in a national randomized controlled trial, which was conducted with 283 mentor-mentee pairs from 16 institutions):
- Mentors assigned to the training showed significantly higher skills gains compared with the control; this held true across career stage, institution, and gender. This also held true for all 6 competencies addressed in the training.3
- At the end of the training sessions, 98% of trained mentors reported some form of change as a result of the training, with 54% reporting an implemented change in their mentoring behavior, and an additional 44% an intention to change, or increased awareness about mentoring.4 Three months after the training, the number of trained mentors reporting they had implemented a change increased to 87%.3
- Similarly, mentees of trained mentors noted a significantly greater number of positive changes in their mentors’ behavior over the study period as compared to those in paired with mentors in the control group. Further, 44% noted two or more positive changes as compared with 24% in the control.2
- 88% of those assigned to the intervention reported the 8-hour training was a valuable use of time; 90% would recommend the sessions to a colleague.4
Leveraging National Calls for Mentorship Education
- Recommendation #2 of the National Academies consensus Report “The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEM (https://www.nap.edu/resource/25568/interactive/index.html#section4)
- Federal Funding agencies are calling for evidence-based mentor training (https://www.nigms.nih.gov/training/strategicplanimplementationblueprint/pages/EvidenceBasedMentoring.aspx)
- Recommendation in “Actionable recommendation from Trainees to improve science training” (Davis, et. al 2020) (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7413740)
References:
- Handelsman J, Pfund C, Lauffer S, Pribbenow C (2005). Entering Mentoring: A seminar to train a new generation of scientists. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
- Pfund C, Maidl Pribbenow C, Branchaw J, Miller Lauffer S, Handelsman J (2006). Professional skills. The merits of training mentors. Science. 311(5760): 473-474.
- Pfund C, House SC, Asquith P, Fleming M, Buhr KA, Burnham EL, Eichenberger Gilmore J, Huskins WC, McGee R, Schurr K, Shapiro ED, Spencer KS, Sorkness CA (2014). Training mentors of clinical and translational research scholars: A randomized controlled trial. Acad Med. 89(5): 774-782.
- Pfund, C, House S, Spencer K, Asquith P, Carney P, Masters K, McGee R, Shanedling J, Vecchiarell S, Fleming M (2013). A research mentor training curriculum for clinical and translational researchers. Clin Transl Sci. 6(1): 26-33.