title: Faculty Mentors' Perspectives on E-Mentoring Post-Professional Occupational Therapy Doctoral Students.
abstract: E-mentoring is a viable option for mentoring students in occupational therapy educational programs. The objective of this study was to investigate faculty perspectives of faculty-to-student e-mentoring in an online post-professional doctor of occupational therapy program. In a retrospective mixed-method design, nine faculty members described features and outcomes of e-mentoring 48 doctoral students. Online survey results were analysed quantitatively for descriptive statistics; transcripts from structured interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The results showed that successful, satisfactory e-mentoring is student-centered, flexible, frequent, academically and psychosocially supportive; faculty members must be skilled in adapting e-mentoring to the needs and objectives of each mentee; e-mentoring provides opportunities for faculty members and students to achieve academic and professional objectives and growth. The findings suggest that implementation of e-mentoring may be a useful model in other occupational therapy programs. There is a need for future studies with broader participant pool, observable measures of e-mentoring, standardized measures of satisfaction and success and comparison between e-mentoring with and without web camera. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Therapy, Boston University, Boston, USA.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Doyle
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Therapy, Boston University, Boston, USA.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Therapy, Boston University, Boston, USA.
authors.forename: Cathryn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ryan
mesh_terms: D020375:Education, Distance; D004500:Education, Graduate / Q000379:methods*; D005178:Faculty; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D000071252:Mentoring / Q000379:methods*; D008611:Mentors; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000193:education*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013685:Telecommunications
keywords: e-mentoring; graduate education; mentoring; occupational therapy; online education