Introduction: Mentorship is a cross-disciplinary strategy, which could be applied in all stages of career development. For this reason, mentorship has the potential to be expanded to qualified practitioners, as well as postgraduate students or students in other disciplines. Understanding the support needs of newly qualified health care professionals can facilitate successful on-boarding into occupational therapy and other health professionals and will contribute to a foundation for promoting interdisciplinary teaching, learning, support and- assessment. While the academic curriculum develops graduate attributes, co-curricular programs such as student-driven mentorship programs may contribute to advancing professional development.
Objectives: To explore the nature of support needs of newly qualified health care professionals for teaching, learning, assessment and leadership. To describe the content, nature and structure of a mentorship program for newly qualified health care professionals.
Methods: Data collection methods included interviews, focus groups and surveys. Atlas TI was used to analyse qualitative data inductively. Qualitative data generated findings on the expectations and needs of novice health care practitioners. Factors that facilitated the implementation of a mentorship program for newly qualified therapists in occupational therapy and the health sciences were explicated. A model of intervention for supporting newly qualified health professionals is proposed.
Results: Preliminary results of the project will be presented.
Implications: The findings will inform training and support of newly graduate occupational therapists and rehabilitation professionals.