Mentoring and coaching in promoting publications in the Department of Physiotherapy at a local university in South Africa

Abstract

A  growing  shift  towards  research  and  evidence  based  practice  in academia  is  associated  with  requirements  to  disseminate  research  results  in  the  form of publication in peer reviewed journals.  Mentoring has been identified as an important component of developing young authors, as it increases confidence and competence, and facilitates professional development. This led to the formation of a support group to stimulate peer-review publication in the physiotherapy department at  the  University  of  the  Western  Cape.  The  Kirkpatrick  Framework  of  Evaluation  was  used  to  evaluate  the  success  of  the  mentoring  process  which  made  use  of  a  participatory  action  research  methodology. The  writing  group  consisted  of  nine  academic members of staff and took place over ten weeks.  The programme included writing, giving feedback, discussion and peer review on a weekly basis.  Focus group discussions were taped and transcribed in order to evaluate the mentoring process  by  identifying  relationships  within  the  data  and  categorising  key  concepts,  which were shaped into a thematic framework.  The findings indicated that participants experienced a variety of emotions throughout the programme, with an overall feeling of personal growth by the end. In addition, participants also reported improved writing, reviewing and communication skills.  Six months following the programme, six participants had submitted at least one article to a peer reviewed journal.  It is clear from this study that some academics still find the task of writing and reviewing articles daunting, and that guidance and support in the form of a writing programme can be useful.