Mentoring up: How mentorship training influences mentee intent to change behavior

The purpose of this study was to evaluate data from different implementations of the Mentoring Up curriculum, designed by the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research. The study investigated the relationship between participants' self-reported change in mentoring competence and the behaviors they intended to implement post-training.

The data set included 401 respondents who consented to participate after 59 Mentoring Up training events hosted by 34 institutions between 2015 and 2022. Responses to the Mentoring Competency Assessment (MCA) were analyzed to determine which factors were related to self-reported changes in participants' mentoring competencies post-training.

Quantitative analysis showed that intent to change, perceived value of training, training modality, and prior mentor training were all significantly associated with the magnitude of change in MCA scores between pre- and post-tests. Further, participants who engaged in face-to-face training found significantly more value in the training than those who participated online. Analysis of open-ended questions demonstrated that participants with larger changes in MCA scores were more likely to address core principles of Mentoring Up curriculum when discussing their behavior change plans post-training.

Participants improved their mentoring competence by participating in the Mentoring Up curriculum, and this change was significantly and practically associated with an intent to modify their behavior in their mentoring relationships.