Life Span Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, 66045, USA.
Center for Teaching Excellence, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, USA.
F1000Res. 2021 Jul 21;10:626. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.53705.2. eCollection 2021.
As greater career development support for doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers has been emphasized, the individual development plan (IDP) has become a recommended mentoring tool. However, little is known about the effect of IDPs on mentoring and career development. This study proposed two conceptual models to examine the interrelationships among the use of IDPs, mentoring support, and career preparedness with a diverse sample of doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers in the life sciences. The data leveraged for this study was collected over a three-month period, March 2016 to June 2016, as part of a cross-sectional, online survey. The survey was distributed through social media and direct email to participants enrolled in life/biological/medical or physical/applied doctoral programs at U.S. institutions. To test the proposed conceptual models, this study employed the design-based multilevel structural equation modeling. The analytic sample comprised 660 doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers in the life sciences from 91 institutions. The results suggested that 1) using the IDP could enhance mentoring support and career preparedness of doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers; 2) greater mentoring support and career preparedness would motivate mentees to continue utilizing the IDP with their principal investigator (PI) or advisor; and 3) females, postdoctoral researchers, and international scholars might need more support throughout the mentoring and career development process. This research offered empirical evidence for how an IDP, mentorship, and career preparedness interact. Findings revealed the IDP enhances mentoring support and career preparedness, as well as mentoring support and career preparedness predict IDP use. We conclude the IDP is an important mentorship tool that enhances trainees' overall career preparation.
随着对博士生和博士后研究人员提供更多职业发展支持的强调，个人发展计划（IDP）已成为推荐的指导工具。然而，对于 IDP 对指导和职业发展的影响知之甚少。本研究提出了两个概念模型，以检查生命科学领域中不同的博士生和博士后研究人员在使用 IDP、指导支持和职业准备方面的相互关系。本研究利用的数据集是在 2016 年 3 月至 6 月期间通过横断面在线调查收集的。该调查通过社交媒体和直接电子邮件分发给美国机构生命/生物/医学或物理/应用博士课程的参与者。为了检验所提出的概念模型，本研究采用了基于设计的多层次结构方程建模。分析样本包括来自 91 个机构的 660 名生命科学领域的博士生和博士后研究人员。结果表明：1）使用 IDP 可以增强博士生和博士后研究人员的指导支持和职业准备；2）更多的指导支持和职业准备将激励被指导者继续与他们的主要研究者（PI）或顾问一起使用 IDP；3）女性、博士后研究人员和国际学者在指导和职业发展过程中可能需要更多的支持。这项研究提供了关于 IDP、指导和职业准备如何相互作用的经验证据。研究结果表明，IDP 增强了指导支持和职业准备，以及指导支持和职业准备预测了 IDP 的使用。我们得出结论，IDP 是一种重要的指导工具，可以增强学员的整体职业准备。
