Author/Editor		Filej, Bojana; Žvanut, Boštjan; Kaučič, Boris Miha
Title		The desired characteristics of a clinical mentor
Type		članek
Vol. and No.		Letnik 22, št. 7
Publication year		2015
Volume		str. 479-493
ISSN		1561-882X - Wulfenia
Language		eng
Abstract		Backround: The aim of the study was to identify which professional and personal characteristics are relevant for the mentors in clinical environment, in the opinion of students of physiotherapy and social gerontology. Material and methods: The internet-based survey was performed by using the adapted version of Nursing Clinical Teacher Effectiveness Inventory. The final sample consisted of 100 (20.9 %) physiotherapy and social gerontology students. To test the differences in responses between groups the Mann Whitney test was applied. Results: Indicate a substantial difference in mentors¼ professional and personal characteristics quoted by the physiotherapy and social gerontology students. The two common characteristics of a mentor, highlighted by both groups of students, were: explains clearly and is open minded and Vol 22, No. 7;Jul 2015 480 office@multidisciplinarywulfenia.org non-judgemental. The competence explains clearly is statistically more important (p<0.001) for physiotherapy students ( x=2.7; o=3.0) than for the social gerontology students ( x=5.0; o= 3.6), although it was by both groups ranked as the first one within the category. The characteristic is open minded and non-judgemental, has been by both groups evaluated as the most important, although there is no statistically significant importance between them in the evaluation. Conclusions: We found out what kind of mentor the students wish for when they perform their clinical practice. Due to the fact that the profession of a physiotherapist is more instrumental in nature, and the profession of social gerontologist more expressive in nature, also the expectations concerning the characteristics of the mentor are different. Being a mentor is a challenging task, which significantly influences the development od students' competences.
Keywords		characteristic mentor student physiotherapy social gerontology clinical environment