University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy, 7 Greenhouse Rd., Office 244A, Kingston, RI 02881, United States of America.
MaineGeneral Medical Center, 35 Medical Center Parkway, Augusta, ME 04330, United States of America.
Curr Pharm Teach Learn. 2024 Jun;16(6):496-502. doi: 10.1016/j.cptl.2024.03.014. Epub 2024 May 1.
Stress experienced by pharmacy students is on the rise and is negatively impacting student success. Pharmacy accreditation standards encourage schools to promote student success and well-being. Peer to peer student support is a largely under-investigated strategy to address this. The objective of this manuscript is to conduct a literature review on the development of peer mentoring programs for pharmacy students and describe best practices for successful implementation into pharmacy programs.
This literature review identified studies using major databases, including PubMed, Embase, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, and Education Resources Information Center. Search terms included [(peer mentor*) AND pharmacy]. Any study that involved peer assessment, peer tutoring, or peer learning within a course, faculty mentors only, non-pharmacy students, and/or did not implement a mentor-mentee relationship, was excluded.
Three studies met the criteria for inclusion. Mentorship programs varied with regard to duration, mentor recruitment, participant incentives, and overall structure. Various methods of analyses were employed. Despite major differences between the included studies, three themes were identified regarding development of peer mentoring programs: participation, support, and pairing. Active engagement led to higher perceived benefit and both mentors and mentees found the programs beneficial, agreed to recommend the programs to others, and provided positive feedback.
Successful mentoring programs should aim to incorporate the following characteristics to some degree: mandatory participation by mentor and mentee as well as support for mentors with training and faculty oversight. Peer mentoring programs have a positive impact on participants. More studies are needed to assess the effects of peer mentoring in pharmacy programs. This is the first known review of peer mentoring within pharmacy programs and identifies a gap in knowledge in this area. There is a paucity of data surrounding peer mentoring in pharmacy and its potential value as a tool to improve student well-being.
药剂学专业学生的压力日益增加，对学生的成功产生了负面影响。药学认证标准鼓励学校促进学生的成功和福祉。朋辈学生支持是解决这一问题的一个很大程度上尚未被充分研究的策略。本文的目的是对药剂学专业学生朋辈导师计划的发展进行文献综述，并描述将其成功实施到药剂学项目中的最佳实践。
本文献综述通过主要数据库（包括 PubMed、Embase、国际药学文摘和教育资源信息中心）确定了研究，检索词包括 [(peer mentor*) AND pharmacy]。任何涉及课程内朋辈评估、朋辈辅导或朋辈学习、仅涉及教师导师、非药学专业学生、且/或未实施导师-学员关系的研究均被排除在外。
有三项研究符合纳入标准。导师计划在持续时间、导师招募、参与者激励和整体结构方面存在差异。采用了各种分析方法。尽管纳入的研究之间存在重大差异，但在朋辈导师计划的发展方面确定了三个主题：参与、支持和配对。积极参与导致更高的感知收益，导师和学员都认为该计划有益，同意向他人推荐该计划，并提供积极反馈。
成功的导师计划应在某种程度上纳入以下特征：导师和学员必须参与，以及为导师提供培训和教师监督的支持。朋辈导师计划对参与者有积极影响。需要更多的研究来评估朋辈导师在药学项目中的效果。这是首次对药学专业朋辈导师的综述，确定了该领域知识的空白。围绕药学中的朋辈辅导及其作为改善学生福祉的工具的潜在价值，数据很少。
