Culturally Sensitive Mentorship in Occupational Therapy Education

Abstract

Mentorship provides crucial support and guidance for students, significantly influencing their academic and professional success. Mentorship experiences can vary considerably, with students from historically underrepresented groups facing racism, discrimination, and a lack of opportunities in their professional development. Despite the recognized need for culturally sensitive mentorship, there is a lack of literature within occupational therapy that focuses on the mentoring experiences of students from historically underrepresented groups. This study aimed to address this gap by exploring occupational therapy students’ mentoring needs and experiences to inform the future development of culturally sensitive mentoring programs. Utilizing a cross-sectional survey, the study collected responses from 133 students; 59 identified as being a student from a historically underrepresented group. Descriptive statistics and between-group comparisons were used for data analysis, while responses to open-ended questions were analyzed through content analysis. Overall, study results indicated that current mentorship programming was insufficient for occupational therapy students from historically underrepresented groups. Students expressed a desire for mentors who not only understood the complexities of transitioning from academia to clinical practice but also demonstrated cultural humility and incorporated empathy, anti-racism allyship, and support for handling workplace discrimination in their mentoring. These results provide evidence of the need for occupational therapy programs to implement culturally sensitive mentorship programs to facilitate transitions from student to practitioner that integrate career support with emotional and social validation and help students cope with cultural isolation, microaggressions, and systemic racism. By implementing such mentorship programs, occupational therapy programs could enhance equity, inclusion, educational outcomes, and professional resilience for students from historically underrepresented groups