Mentors' experiences in an osteopathic medical student research program

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Research Mentorship

Background:

• Medical students, particularly at osteopathic institutions, often have limited research exposure.
• Systematic research instruction and mentorship can encourage medical students to pursue research careers.
• Recruiting and retaining research mentors is challenging for osteopathic medical schools.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the experiences of mentors in a voluntary medical student-research program.
• To understand mentors' motivations, satisfaction, and interest in future participation.

Main Methods:

• An online survey was administered to 76 mentors who had guided 219 medical students between 2014 and 2019.
• The survey included 13 items assessing motivation, satisfaction, and future interest.
• Descriptive statistics and comparative analyses (logistic and ordinal regression) were used.

Main Results:

• Of 70 respondents (92.1%), 87.1% were motivated by a desire to help students learn research.
• 70.0% of mentors were motivated by furthering their own research productivity; this was significantly higher for hospital-based mentors (OR=2.02).
• Most mentors were satisfied with student work (84.3%) and the program (85.5%), with 84.1% interested in future participation.

Conclusions:

• Mentors participated in the research program for both altruistic and professional reasons.
• High satisfaction and interest in future participation suggest the program is mutually beneficial.
• Enhancements, such as requiring minimum student presence, were suggested.