Effectiveness of a Faculty Mentor Development Program for Scholarship at an Academic Health Center

Introduction:Mentors are in short supply at academic health centers (AHCs). The effectiveness of training mentors (without preselection for their research skills) to support faculty mentees in scholarly activities at AHCs is not well known.Methods:The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center has a two-component program to develop effective mentors for scholarship for faculty mentees. It has an online component supplemented by an optional face-to-face (F2F) component. Study outcomes included changes in self-reported knowledge scores for online users and Mentoring Competency Assessment scores for F2F users.Results:One hundred five mentors, mostly women associate professors, used the online program. Online users demonstrated improvement in self-reported knowledge scores. Thirty-eight users additionally completed the F2F program-63% on a clinician-educator track and none with a National Institutes of Health-funded K-award mentee. The self-reported Mentoring Competency Assessment composite score rose from 4.3 ± 1.0 to 5.5 ± 0.8 (paired t = 7.37, df = 37, P <.001) for the F2F participants, with similar improvement noted in the clinician-educator subgroup.Discussion:Users of the online and F2F components of the program improved their self-assessed knowledge and mentoring skill, respectively, demonstrating the effectiveness of the program. Such programs may help AHCs enhance the scholarship and the diversity of their scientific and clinician-educator workforce.