TITLE:
Peer Mentoring Contributes to Career Growth of Undergraduate Nutrition and Dietetics Students
AUTHORS:
Megan E. Grimes, Sandra D. Baker, Marie Fanelli Kuczmarski
KEYWORDS:
Undergraduate, Dietetics, Nutrition, Peer Mentoring, Career Development
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.5 No.14,
August
20,
2014
ABSTRACT: Peer mentoring has
been shown to improve social networks and reduce the rate of failure in college
classes. However, it has not been studied extensively with nutrition and
dietetics majors, who may benefit from peer mentoring as a way to cultivate
learning and improve communication and leadership skills. The University of
Delaware’s Dietetics Program recently implemented cross-year peer mentoring in
the relatively large Introduction to
Nutrition Professions class, a First Year Experience course. At the end of
every class, the mentors, upperclassmen, met with small groups of students to
answer questions, review assignments, and share their experiences. The ratio of
mentor to student was 1:10. All mentors received training by the course
instructor prior to the first mentoring sessions. The effectiveness of the
mentoring experience was evaluated for both the mentees and the mentors of the
2012 and 2013 classes by a validated online survey. Of the 254 mentees, 176
(69%) completed the survey; of the 24 mentors, 21 responded. Approximately 75%
of the mentees agreed or strongly agreed that mentoring provided them nutrition
resources, and that they could ask the mentor questions about the field of
nutrition. Mentees noted that they benefited from increased knowledge of
university resources and nutrition careers and the valuable advice from
mentors. Almost all mentors agreed that the program increased their leadership
and communication skills, and that it was a positive experience. Mentor
benefits included career development and favorable dietetic internship
acceptance rate, higher than the national average. Roughly 35% of mentees and 8
of 21 mentors agreed or strongly agreed that the mentoring session expanded
their friendship networks within the major. Based on these positive outcomes,
peer mentoring is an effective method to enhance students’ learning and career
growth.