‘I really enjoy it’: Emotional Engagement of University Peer Mentors

Peer mentoring programs are commonly used to facilitate the transition of new students into higher education settings. Peer mentors’ experiences and emotions during mentoring are important but under-researched. We report exploratory work to address this gap in a two-phase study using a grounded t...

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Main Authors: Susan Beltman, Kerstin Helker, Sarina Fischer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre for Resilience & Socio-Emotional Health 2019-11-01
Series:International Journal of Emotional Education
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.um.edu.mt/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/417069/v11i2p4.pdf
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author Susan Beltman
Kerstin Helker
Sarina Fischer
author_facet Susan Beltman
Kerstin Helker
Sarina Fischer
author_sort Susan Beltman
collection DOAJ
description Peer mentoring programs are commonly used to facilitate the transition of new students into higher education settings. Peer mentors’ experiences and emotions during mentoring are important but under-researched. We report exploratory work to address this gap in a two-phase study using a grounded theory approach. In Phase 1 mentors in an Australian university responded to online (n=35) or face-to-face (n=10) questions about their emotions during a peer mentor program. Emotions were found to be primarily positive, mentors varied in the extent to which they express emotions, and emotions relating to different time points were evident. In Phase 2, we examined temporal dimensions of emotions in more depth with peer mentors in a German university and added anticipated future emotions to existing categories. Connections between mentors’ emotions and their own early experiences at university were explored, with another category of recalled prior emotions being added. Our findings are consistent with previous research regarding the positive and negative emotional aspects of being a peer mentor and further contribute to the understanding of the complexity of emotions in mentoring, specifically peer mentoring in higher education settings.
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spelling doaj.art-21bbdc2804a245bda3efdb20cff74b132023-01-03T11:25:59ZengCentre for Resilience & Socio-Emotional HealthInternational Journal of Emotional Education2073-76292073-76292019-11-011125070‘I really enjoy it’: Emotional Engagement of University Peer MentorsSusan Beltman 0Kerstin Helker1Sarina FischerCurtin University, Bentley, AustraliaRWTH Aachen University, Aachen, GermanyPeer mentoring programs are commonly used to facilitate the transition of new students into higher education settings. Peer mentors’ experiences and emotions during mentoring are important but under-researched. We report exploratory work to address this gap in a two-phase study using a grounded theory approach. In Phase 1 mentors in an Australian university responded to online (n=35) or face-to-face (n=10) questions about their emotions during a peer mentor program. Emotions were found to be primarily positive, mentors varied in the extent to which they express emotions, and emotions relating to different time points were evident. In Phase 2, we examined temporal dimensions of emotions in more depth with peer mentors in a German university and added anticipated future emotions to existing categories. Connections between mentors’ emotions and their own early experiences at university were explored, with another category of recalled prior emotions being added. Our findings are consistent with previous research regarding the positive and negative emotional aspects of being a peer mentor and further contribute to the understanding of the complexity of emotions in mentoring, specifically peer mentoring in higher education settings.https://www.um.edu.mt/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/417069/v11i2p4.pdfpeer mentoringuniversity studentsemotionstime pointsstudent transition
spellingShingle Susan Beltman
Kerstin Helker
Sarina Fischer
‘I really enjoy it’: Emotional Engagement of University Peer Mentors
International Journal of Emotional Education
peer mentoring
university students
emotions
time points
student transition
title ‘I really enjoy it’: Emotional Engagement of University Peer Mentors
title_full ‘I really enjoy it’: Emotional Engagement of University Peer Mentors
title_fullStr ‘I really enjoy it’: Emotional Engagement of University Peer Mentors
title_full_unstemmed ‘I really enjoy it’: Emotional Engagement of University Peer Mentors
title_short ‘I really enjoy it’: Emotional Engagement of University Peer Mentors
title_sort i really enjoy it emotional engagement of university peer mentors
topic peer mentoring
university students
emotions
time points
student transition
url https://www.um.edu.mt/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/417069/v11i2p4.pdf
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AT sarinafischer ireallyenjoyitemotionalengagementofuniversitypeermentors