Perceptions and Effect of Mentoring of MBBS Students in a Peripheral Medical College of West Bengal

Introduction: Various medical colleges of West Bengal have developed ‘Mentoring Program’ offering guidance to students. Objectives: To assess mentees’ and mentors’ perception regarding mentoring during MBBS, to identify the barriers in a mentor-mentee relationship, to observe the effect of mentoring on perceived stress among students and identify association between stress level and socio-demographic profile. Methods: Institution based analytical study (November 2021 - October 2022) where total enumeration of third year students was done (n=183). HESI scale was used for the stress score & association between stress level and socio-demographic profile (chi-square/fisher’s exact test) were done. Results: Majority of the students 151 (82.51%) stated that they were benefitted from the mentoring. Among the benefitted students 35 (23.18%) stated it as academic, 22 (14.57%) as personal and 88 (58.27%) as both. Most of the students felt an ideal mentor should be friendly 161 (87.98%), easily approachable 166 (90.71%), a good listener 144 (78.69%), understandable 148 (80.87%), soft spoken 125 (68.31%), and should guide by valuable suggestions 138 (75.41%). About the barriers in communicating with the mentor 61 (33.33%) stated time constraints as the major barrier. A significant reduction in mean stress scores, from 2.48 (±0.39) before a mentoring program to 2.40 (±0.34) after (p < .005) by HESI scale was seen by paired t-test. Stress was not found to be significant with socio-demographic profile (chi-square/fisher’s exact test). Conclusions: Perception regarding mentoring among the mentors & mentees was found to be positive. Mentoring played a significant role in stress reduction among the students.