Abstract
Effective mentoring is a key mechanism propelling successful research and academic careers, particularly for early career scholars. Most mentoring programs focus on models pairing senior and early career researchers, with limited focus on peer mentoring. Peer mentoring may be especially advantageous within emerging areas such as implementation science (IS) where challenges to traditional mentoring may be more prevalent. This special communication highlights the value of peer mentoring by describing a case study of an early career IS peer mentoring group. We delineate our curriculum and structure; support and processes; and products and outcomes. We highlight important group member characteristics to consider during group formation and continuation. The group’s long-term (6 years) success was attributed to the balance of similarities and differences among group members. Members were in a similar career phase and used similar methodologies but studied different health topics at different institutions. Group members gave and received instrumental and psychosocial support and shared resources and knowledge. Peer mentoring can serve an important function to provide emotional, logistical, and professional development support for early career scholars. Our case study highlights strategies to foster peer mentoring groups that provide a generalizable blueprint and opportunity for improved outcomes for early career professionals.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | e112 |
| Journal | Journal of Clinical and Translational Science |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2021 |
Funding
We would like to acknowledge the Implementation Research Institute (IRI; NIMH R25 MH080916) at the Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, of which Drs. Dickson, Glass, Barnett, Powell, and Stadnick are current or past fellows. This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (K23MH115100, PI: Dickson; K01MH110608, PI: Barnett; K01MH113806, PI: Powell; K23MH110602; PI: Stadnick), National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (K01AA023859, PI: Glass), and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (K01DK116925, PI: Graham). Mentoring is a critical ingredient for conducting innovative, impactful translational research, including implementation science (IS). The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF) recognize the importance of mentorship in facilitating professional success [5]. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) National Advisory Council stated, “Effective mentoring, which is often lacking, is one of the elements essential to the development of a successful research career” [6]. The importance of mentoring for early-stage implementation scientists is underscored by increasing numbers of competitive national and international IS training programs prioritizing mentored training (e.g., Implementation Research Institute; Mentored Training in Dissemination and Implementation Research in Cancer; Training Institute in Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health of the USA, Ireland, and Australia) [7–10]. Similarly, mentorship is a core feature of US grant mechanisms for early-stage investigators, such as NIH Career Development Awards (i.e., K awards), NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program, and the Institute of Educational Sciences Early Career Development and Mentoring programs. This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (K23MH115100, PI: Dickson; K01MH110608, PI: Barnett; K01MH113806, PI: Powell; K23MH110602; PI: Stadnick), National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (K01AA023859, PI: Glass), and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (K01DK116925, PI: Graham).
Keywords
- Peer networking
- career development
- case study
- early-stage investigators
- implementation science
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Medicine