Providing online mentoring to students interested in public health professions
Abstract
All public health providers are invited to participate in the Public Health Expertise Network of Mentors (PHENOM) sponsored by Southern Connecticut State University. Participants serve one-year voluntary terms as mentors, communicating primarily by e-mail with college students and others who are interested in the public health professions. Betty Jung, Program Director for PHENOM, submitted this effective practice in February 2003.Issue
Providing mentoring services to college students and others who are interested in the field of public health.Action
According to Betty Jung, Program Director for the Public Health Expertise Network of Mentors (PHENOM), major considerations for an online mentoring program include recruiting professionals with the type of work experiences mentees ask for; collecting and posting data to the website; and using the Internet as the primary medium to maintain contact with volunteer mentors, and to disseminate information about the programs they are/were affiliated with. Effective practices in the areas of mentoring and administrative issues include:
Becoming a Mentor
- All mentors are public health practitioners with a degree in public health, and have volunteered to provide career and school advice to anyone interested in the field of public health.
- Interested professionals can become mentors by filling out a Public Health Mentor File Form (available via the Internet) and submitting a resume. A profile is then developed and included in an on-line directory that is posted on the Internet.
- Public health practitioners can provide valuable insights into what employers expect of those with college preparation in public health. Also, having completed a program of study in public health, mentors can share their academic experiences with others who are interested in making the most of their academic pursuits.
- Mentors can be contacted via email or by phone through a listing on the Public Health Expertise Network of Mentors (PHENOM) website.
- As of April 2003, The Public Health Expertise Network of Mentors lists 24 mentors on its site and also offers an on-line user evaluation form.
- Based on data from previous years, telephone contacts last anywhere from five to 20 minutes. With the increase of email usage, mentors are increasingly being contacted via email. Email responses can vary from five to 30 minutes -- depending on the time it takes to write an email.
- Content includes questions such as
- What a mentor is doing at his/her workplace
- What kind of academic electives a mentor found to be most useful
- Assistance with course work (for example, where to get certain kinds of information, ideas for a special project, thesis, or Internship, how to become certified in a specialty area, what kinds of skills are expected for a particular health discipline)
- Mentors are asked to keep a log of their mentoring activities and to submit this, or a summary of its contents to the program coordinator at the end of each volunteer period.
- All administrative activities are handled over the Internet through the Public Health Service Electronic Newsletter that was started during the 2001-2002 academic year.
- Recruitment for volunteers was held during the spring of 2002 through announcements in the Public Health E-News and Public Health Jobs Electronic Newsletters.
- All required forms and documentation are available on the website from the "Service Committee Page."
- One component of the mentor log is to determine how people found out about the programs; these findings are used to improve the distribution of annual listings to reach intended audiences. Mentors are also asked for comments and suggestions.
- The program director analyzes the data collected by mentors and compiles statistics regarding activities, which are available upon request.
Context
Public Health Expertise Network of Mentors (P.H.E.N.O.M.) is an expansion of The Public Health Alumni Mentor Program (PHAM), a service activity of the Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) Alumni Association/Public Health Alumni Chapter, serving the Internet community. This service program is now in its 10th year.
In the spirit of peer counseling, the Southern Connecticut State University Public Health Alumni Mentor Program was developed. According to the 1993 Graduate Alumni Survey, over a third of those responding were interested in becoming involved in a mentoring activity. An October 1993 graduate student survey showed 93.8 percent wanted to speak to alumni about job experiences and 87.5 percent wanted to speak to alumni about school experiences.
During the 1993 Fall Semester, a 93-94 listing of graduate alumni interested in sharing their school and work experiences was made available to graduate faculty and students. In February 1994, the Public Health Alumni Chapter was created as an affiliate chapter of the SCSU Alumni Association. Based on alumni response to the first chapter survey, this mentoring program was expanded to include all Department of Public Health alumni. In July 2002, the program expanded again to include as mentors anyone with a degree in public health who was working as a public health practitioner, and was accessible via the Internet.
Outcome
- The Southern Connecticut State University's Department of Health faculty, current students, and others interested in the field of public health have access to an on-line resource bank of professional public health expertise.
- The Internet community has access to an on-line directory of public health practitioners who serve as career mentors to those interested in the field and the practice of public health, and are willing to share their work and academic experiences.
- During the summer of 1999, the annual SCSU PHAM brochure was converted into a Web page document, and made available on a website, as well as on the SCSU Department of Public Health's website, with links to SCSU's Alumni Association website. This facilitated greater international outreach.
- Because of better dissemination of information regarding the program, volunteers now come from a broader base of professionals and therefore have helped expand the reach of the program.
Evidence
Effectiveness is measured by:- The number of hits received to the web pages pertaining to the program
- Where visitors are coming from
- The continuous participation of volunteers
- The ability to recruit new volunteers
For the 1999-2000 academic year, the mentor listing on the web site received over 90 hits. As of July 2002, there were 796 hits from around the world.
Recruitment for volunteers was held during the spring of 2002 through announcements in the Public Health E-News and Public Health Jobs Electronic Newsletters.
As of April 2003, the Public Health Expertise Network of Mentors lists 24 mentors on its site.
Posted On
April 16, 2003For More Information
Related Practices
Related sites
National Mentoring Partnership