Peer Mentoring in Social Work Education: Strengths and Challenges

Background and Purpose

Pursuing a degree in higher education is a stressful experience for students at both the undergraduate and graduate level with numerous obstacles and challenges.  Mentoring has historically been identified as an important component of a successful academic career.  A peer mentoring relationship can be especially beneficial since students’ experiences more closely approximate one another and can result in more successful acclimation to the university setting.

Social work students are at risk of experiencing cognitive, social, socio-economic, and socio-political stressors as they prepare for and engage in a field that is susceptible to higher levels of compassion fatigue and burnout.  Literature about developing a peer mentoring program or its successes within the field of social work, however, is limited.

The purpose of this study was 1) to evaluate participants’ experience with a peer mentoring program developed for undergraduate- and graduate-level social work students, and 2) to determine how well the components of the program contributed to positive academic and social integration and to students’ academic, social, and personal goal attainment.

Methods

Using availability sampling, 55 social work students participated in a 12-week peer mentoring program, of which, 16 students completed the mixed-methods study. Participants varied in age (M = 32.31, SD = 11.10) but were otherwise a homogenous sample of White (80.0%) female (87.5%) MSW (81.3%) mentees (62.5%). A pre- and post-test survey of the program included academic integration (6-item) and social integration (6-item) scales, leadership skills for mentors, students’ perception of goal attainment, and open- and closed-ended questions about benefits and challenges of the peer mentoring program. Additionally, four students participated in a focus group to further explore their experience of the peer mentoring program.

Findings

Across mentors and mentees, the most highly ranked desired match characteristics were professional interests, personal interests, and age. Matching mentoring partnerships based on prioritized characteristics provided greater access in building relationship trust and sustaining conversation through the duration of the peer mentoring program. Participants reported meeting face to face (89.9%) and virtually (10.1%), during which top discussion topics were personal concerns, social concerns, concentration choices, and practicum choices. Academic integration increased significantly, t(11) = -6.220, p < .001, while social integration was not found to significantly change, t(11) = 2.049, p < .065. Mentor match day activities and networking events that addressed what to expect during concentration year and how to successfully navigate post-graduation garnered the most program interest. Although time was the most frequently cited barrier, mentors who received leadership guidance were more likely to follow through with mentoring responsibilities.

Conclusion and Implications

Findings of this study highlight the successes and challenges of a peer mentoring program in social work education. While peer interaction and professional networking are valuable components of programming, participants would benefit from guidance with time management and increased mentor leadership development, thereby cultivating healthy social and academic integration while in school and developing useful skills for future practice.