Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Mar 14:8:53.
doi: 10.4103/jehp.jehp_212_18. eCollection 2019.

The undergraduate medical student's perception of professional mentorship: Results from a developing nation's medical school

Adeyi A Adoga  1 , Daniel D Kokong  1 , Nuhu K Dakum  2 , Nuhu D Ma'an  3 , Andrew A Iduh  3 , Emoche T Okwori  3 , John P Yaro  3
Affiliations

The undergraduate medical student's perception of professional mentorship: Results from a developing nation's medical school

Adeyi A Adoga et al. J Educ Health Promot. .

Abstract

Introduction: There are no documented formal mentoring programs for medical students in Nigeria. This study aims to determine the perception of undergraduate medical students at the University of Jos on professional mentorship, with a view to informing University authorities on creating and developing a mentoring program.

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study conducted in December 2017 in which self-administered questionnaires were distributed among the sixth-year medical students in a University in North-Central Nigeria, eliciting information regarding biodemographic data, knowledge of and experiences with mentoring, desired benefits of mentoring, and the willingness to participate in a mentoring relationship. Data collected was analyzed with EPI Info statistical software® version 7.2.1 (EPI Info, Center for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia, 2017).

Results: In a class of 166, the response rate was 83.5%. Mean age = 27.4 years; standard deviation = ±2.6 with a male: female ratio of 1.9:1. Moderate knowledge of mentoring was reported by 47 (44.3%). Attitude toward mentoring was very positive in 23.6%. One hundred and four (98.1%) students agreed mentoring are effective in developing potential. Nearly 95.3% agreed a mentorship program would benefit medical students with 70.8% expressing high willingness to participate. A weak positive statistical correlation between the age of students and those who expressed willingness to participate was recorded (r = 0.04; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.6-1.16; and P = 0.05).

Conclusion: Sixth-year medical students of the University of Jos have a moderate knowledge of and a good attitude toward mentorship. The implementation of a formal mentoring program for medical students at the University of Jos is strongly recommended.

Keywords: Medical students; Nigeria; mentorship; perception.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Attitude toward mentoring
Figure 2
Figure 2
Willingness to participate in mentorship
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Frei E, Stamm M, Buddeberg-Fischer B. Mentoring programs for medical students – A review of the PubMed literature 2000-2008. BMC Med Educ. 2010;10:32. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Usmani A, Omaeer Q, Sultan ST. Mentoring undergraduate medical students: Experience from Bahria University Karachi. J Pak Med Assoc. 2011;61:790–4. - PubMed
    1. Buddeberg-Fischer B, Herta KD. Formal mentoring programmes for medical students and doctors – A review of the medline literature. Med Teach. 2006;28:248–57. - PubMed
    1. Frei E, Stamm M, Budderberg-Fischer B. Mentoring programs for medical students – A review of the PubMed literature 2000-2008. BMC Med Educ. 2010;10:32. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Coates WC, Crooks K, Slavin SJ, Guiton G, Wilkerson L. Medical school curricular reform: Fourth-year colleges improve access to career mentoring and overall satisfaction. Acad Med. 2008;83(8):754–60. - PubMed