Investigating the Effect of the Quality of the Mentoring Program for Senior Students on the Anxiety Level of Anesthesia Students in the Clinical Education Environment

Introduction: The clinical education process, especially in sensitive fields like anesthesia has specific complexities. Studies show that traditional clinical education methods face numerous challenges, including instructor time constraints and high student anxiety. Mentoring programs have emerged as an effective strategy to enhance education quality and reduce student stress. In this regard, mentoring programs have been introduced as an effective strategy to improve education quality and reduce student anxiety. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the quality of mentoring provided by graduate students and anxiety levels of undergraduate anesthesia students in clinical education environment. Method: This cross sectional study was conducted in 2022 on 52 undergraduate anesthesia students in the fourth- and sixth-semesters. A structured peer mentoring program with eight trained mentors was implemented over six weeks. Mentor–mentee characteristics and interactions were recorded and evaluated. Data were collected using demographic, mentoring quality, and Spielberger Anxiety questionnaires, and analyzed with SPSS version 24. Results: The findings indicated that the components of support (p=0.246), counseling (p=0.990), and respect (p=0.318) had the greatest significant impact on reducing student anxiety. Conversely, challenging behaviors by some mentors were associated with increased anxiety (p=0.614). The mean anxiety score was higher in female students (50.1±2.13) and in semester 4 (49±13) compared to other groups. Conclusion: The results indicate a positive effect of the mentoring program by graduate students on reducing anxiety among undergraduate anesthesia students. It seems that expanding this program to other educational centers could be effective in improving the quality of clinical education.