Elucidation of the Professors' Attitude toward the Implementation of Student Mentoring in the Field of Medical Education: A Qualitative Study

Improvement of the level of student development is one of the most important goals of the higher education system. Regarding the significance of providing and reinforcing the developmental opportunities in medical students and its impact on promoting the health community system, the present study aimed to explain the attitude of professors towards the implementation of student mentoring in the field of medical education.

The present study was conducted based on a qualitative design. The data were collected during the academic years of 2019-20 through conducting semi-structured interviews with the faculty members of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran, and continued until the responses were fully reached. Accordingly, initially, 16 professors were selected according to the purposeful sampling method and face-to-face interviews with an approximate time of one hour were conducted in the professors' office. The data were analyzed based on a step by step content analysis through 6 steps.

The participants included 16 cases (9 females and 7 males) with the academic ranks of professor (n=2), assistant professors (n=12), and instructors (n=2). In total, 25 basic themes were extracted and based on the overlapped content, 6 organizational contents were obtained during the research procedure. In the next stage, they were divided into three comprehensive contents of individual, professional, and social empowerment.

The implementation outcome of the student mentoring in medical sciences has been significant in various aspects and has remarkable effects on the improvement of students and the enhancement of the healthcare system of the country. The results indicated that according to the professors’ attitudes, the components of individual, professional, and social empowerment can be achieved if mentoring is performed properly, especially in the field of medical sciences. Due to the sensitivity of this domain and its direct impact on human life and health, it has attracted a great significance. This study can be a basis for further studies related to mentoring in the higher education system.