The assessment of mentorship programs on pharmacy students’ leadership roles and performance in experiential education

ABSTRACT

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the perception and to assess the impact of mentorship programs on students’ performance and development in pharmacy education during experiential education. Methods: Students from all the schools of pharmacy and from different academic years across pharmacy programs in Lebanon were included. The study involved a survey that included a variety of questions and of different structures including the use of Likert-scale questions and multiple-choice grids that assessed the aim of this study. Results: Out of 260 students, the results indicated that 228, 227, and 219 students agreed/strongly agreed that clinical mentors in experiential education help students develop communication skills, promote their professional development, and develop leadership skills, respectively. In addition, 239, 224, 217, and 217 students agreed/strongly agreed that mentors influence students in advancing performance in experiential training, pursuing leadership positions, promoting general academic performance, and engaging in extracurricular activities, respectively. Conclusion: Mentorship is crucial for students’ performance in experiential education and supports them to take on leadership roles to become prospective pioneers of the pharmacy profession. Mentoring programs are perceived to have positive outcomes which supports the need to evaluate their impact on students. (AU)