UNDERSTANDING HOW PEER MENTORS MAKE MEANING OF THEIR ROLE

Abstract

In an effort to support undergraduate students and retain them, colleges and universities have created programs that use peer mentors to facilitate their transition to and academic success in college. Involving peer mentors in college student support programs has been shown to be effective in helping students with aspects of their academic success. Research has not focused on the essential experience of being in a peer mentor role. This study aimed to understand how peer mentors make meaning of their role, to capture their voice, and to gain insight into the essential experience of being a peer mentor. This phenomenological study used an inductive approach in describing and interpreting the data collected, in order to gain a deeper understanding of how peer mentors make meaning of their role. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with peer mentors with varying levels of experience from two different programs. The interview data was coded into themes providing insight on each mentor’s experience and their understanding of their experience, and were then organized using a holistic developmental framework that included the dimensions of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and epistemological development. The findings in this study suggested that peer mentors were able to describe their experiences in ways that reflected how their experiences caused them to pause, have new insights, and think differently in each of the three dimensions.