The Impact of Relationship Building Through a Structured Coaching Program for Mentors and Mentees within a Doctor of Physical Therapy Post-Professional Residency Program

Purpose: The focus of this study was to explore the impact of relationship building with a structured coaching program, using DISC, for mentors and mentees within a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) post-professional residency program. The medical education literature supports the use of coaching for developing Master Adaptive Learners (MAL) and modeling for lifelong learning. The purpose of this research was to introduce a DISC Focused Coaching Program (DFCP) to both mentors and mentees within a DPT post-professional residency program to understand the impact of coaching from their perspective. Methods: Qualitative phenomenological methods were used to understand the lived experiences of 8 participants (4 mentors and 4 mentees) over a 10-month DFCP. The mentees had an average of 4.75 months of clinical experience and were identified as novices. The mentors collectively had an average of 5.25 years of mentoring experience and 6.75 years of overall clinical experience. Both groups were administered the DISC and given 2 learning modules on communication and human engagement strategies based on the DISC for relationship building. Coaching sessions consisted of 2 group sessions between each mentor and mentee and 1 individual session with each, respectively, over a 10-month duration. A final semi-structured qualitative interview was conducted at the end of the program. Results: This study found 4 themes: Setting Expectations (for both the mentor and mentee), Relationship Building (occurred sooner than relying on it to occur “naturally” or possibly at all), Comfortable to Share Thoughts and Test Ideas (within a safe non-judgmental space to build confidence interacting with mentors and patients), and Engagement Strategies with Uncertainty (exhibiting collaborative and adaptive reasoning skills). Conclusion: A coaching program using the DISC can assist in building relationships between mentors and mentees and foster collaborative and adaptive clinical reasoning skills. Further research is needed to establish how a DFCP can foster relationship building and MAL respective to the mentor and mentee on the continuum of lifelong learning.