Mentoring for Well-Being, Engagement and Academic Achievement in Higher Education Students

Joana Cordeiro Gonçalves^*António Manuel Duarte^*Alexandra Marques-Pinto^*Paula PaulinoCélia FigueiraPaula Costa FerreiraSara HagáAlexandra BarrosNádia Salgado PereiraRita LuzAndré AmaralFilipe Mesquita

• Centro de Investigação em Ciência Psicológica, Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

The aims of the present work were to design and pilot a mentoring-based intervention to assist students transitioning to higher education through an action-research and psychoeducational paradigm. Two studies were conducted at a Portuguese public university’s department, between August of an academic semester and the following March. Study 1 involved designing and testing a training program to equip mentors with tools to support 1st year students’ well-being, engagement, and academic performance. A quasi-experimental one, and another inspired by a multiple-case experiment design, were implemented. The study included an experimental (n = 20) and control group (n = 15), through self-selection sampling, with pre- and post-test. The mentors’ knowledge was measured through a purposedly built questionnaire on vocational development, approaches to learning, self-regulated learning, sense of belonging, and social-emotional skills. The experimental group’s participants also provided feedback on the perceived impact of the training program through ten additional items at post-test. Study 2 examined the impact of this training through the effects of its implementation on a convenience sample of four mentees (1st year students), assessing their knowledge and skill perception on similar variables at pre- and post-test. Additional items and an open-ended questionnaire to evaluate the intervention’s perceived impact were also included. Quantitative data underwent statistical analysis (independent- and paired-samples t-test, except for “knowledge about approaches to learning”, analyzed through Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests), and a case-by-case analysis, while qualitative data were subjected to thematic analysis. Results indicated a statistically significant knowledge increase in Study 1’s experimental group after training, contrasting with the control group, and a potentially positive impact on the development of Study 2’s mentees. The perceived changes’ analysis indicated that most participants experienced a moderate to satisfactory impact. The present work highlights the potential benefits of a mentoring intervention with a precedent mentors’ training program.