Networked mentoring to promote social belonging among minority physical therapist students and develop faculty cross-cultural psychological capital

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine whether a networked mentoring program aligned with the racial/cultural identity development model could mitigate social isolation and promote a sense of belonging among first-year racial and ethnic minority Doctor of Physical Therapy students. Mentoring teams consisted of a first-year minority student, a faculty mentor, and a second-year minority peer mentor. First-year mentees described feeling more connected to the institution through interactions with peer and faculty mentors in mentoring sessions and networking events. Faculty mentors demonstrated a significant increase in cross-cultural psychological capital throughout the six-month intervention period. Peer mentors articulated their professional growth through participating in the networked mentoring model, highlighting the reciprocal benefits associated with mentoring.

KEYWORDS:

• Racial and ethnic minority
• physical therapist students
• faculty
• mentoring

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

Ethical approval granted from the Johns Hopkins University Institutional Review Board (IRB) (23 September 2019, HIRB00009791) and Partners Human Research Committee IRB (30 August 2019, 2019P002000).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Keshrie Naidoo

Dr. Keshrie Naidoo is Assistant Professor at the Department of Physical Therapy, MGH Institute of Health Professions, U.S.A

Heather Yuhaniak

Dr. Heather Yuhaniak is a Senior Educational Advisor and adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins School of Education, U.S.A.

Carey Borkoski

Dr. Carey Borkoski is Associate Professor at the School of Education and Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, U.S.A

Pamela Levangie

Dr Pamela Levangie is Professor Emerita at the MGH Institute of Health Professions, U.S.A

Yolanda Abel

Dr. Yolanda Abel is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Advanced Studies in Education at Johns Hopkins University, U.S.A