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C.C. Lourenço1, L.A. Collange-Grecco2, H.A. Pinheiro3, S. Canavarro4, M. Calheiros5
1Rio de Janeiro Federal University, Physical Therapy, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2Centro de Neuroestimulação Pediátrica, Fisioterapia Neurofuncional da Criança e do Adolescente, São Paulo, Brazil, 3Secretaria de Saúde do Distrito Federal, SRSSO/DIRASE/GSAS3, Distrito Federal, Brazil, 4Ciência em Movimento, Fisioterapia Neurofuncional do Adulto, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 5FioCruz, Instituto Fernandes Figueira, Rio de janeiro, Brazil
Background: One of the most challenging issues in PT’s education is the mentoring of newly graduate professionals. Concerned with this issue, ABRAFIN’s (Brazilian National Association representative of Neurologic Physical Therapy) educational committee conceived a mentorship program in which newly formed PTs could have the opportunity to interact with Senior PTs and share knowledge.
A mentor is not a coach, and the understanding of this concept was critical for the conception of this program. A mentor is someone who “speaks with you” and the relationship between mentor and mentee is mutually beneficial; on the other hand, the coach is instructive and “speaks to” in a top-down perspective.
A mentor is not a coach, and the understanding of this concept was critical for the conception of this program. A mentor is someone who “speaks with you” and the relationship between mentor and mentee is mutually beneficial; on the other hand, the coach is instructive and “speaks to” in a top-down perspective.
Purpose: Difficulties in communication, decision making and even in resources’ choice have been traditionally reported by PTs in the beginning of their career. Thus, a mentoring program can be a facilitation tool with benefits to both mentees and mentors. Patients with neurological conditions are extremely vulnerable and many difficulties presented by young PTs can be minimized by experienced mentor’s advice, this way, even the patients may benefit from this approach.
Methods: This is a pilot study approved by Research Ethics Committee under register 47104621.7.0000.5261. ABRAFIN’s Education Committee sought volunteers from among the senior PTs, members of ABRAFIN’s departments, to act as mentors. The criteria for mentees to apply for the call were: up to 5 years from undergraduate degree, being ABRAFIN members, complete an online form and choose one or more areas from neuro PT. Once mentees met the criteria stablished in the call, both mentors and mentees signed a term of agreement with the mentorship. All the interaction was carried on by ABRAFIN’s zoom platform and the frequency of mentoring meetings was decided by mutual agreement between mentor and mentee. Monthly, both parts filled an evaluation form.
Results: The mentoring program took place betweenAugust, 15 and November, 7, 2022. Eight mentors and thirteen mentees were selected according to the stablished criteria previously published on call. The mentorship meetings were held once a week by 86% of the mentees and the remaining 14% had a frequency of meetings ranging from once every two weeks to once a month. The great majority of mentees (> 90%) considered that the mentorship program met their expectations, and 80% considered that mentoring program should continue.
Conclusions: Although this is a pilot study, our results show that building a mentoring program is feasible and may represent an important tool for continuing education of new physical therapists as well as a good stimulus for seniors so they can learn new skills, sharpen their leadership and give back to the community.
Implications: ABRAFIN is the first Brazilian Association to offer a mentoring program. Continuing education may benefit of the interaction between junior and senior professionals. Mentoring program may be a key factor to enhance newly graduate PTs’ repertoire, increasing their self-confidence through the interchange of practice point of views from more experienced professionals. This experience can be replied by other associations.
Funding acknowledgements: No fundings were received or provided.
Keywords:
Continued education
Neurologic Physical Therapy
Mentorship
Continued education
Neurologic Physical Therapy
Mentorship
Topics:
Education
Education: continuing professional development
Neurology
Education
Education: continuing professional development
Neurology
Did this work require ethics approval? Yes
Institution: Instituto de neurologia Deolindo Couto
Committee: Comitê de ética em pesquisa
Ethics number: 47104621.7.0000.5261
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
