Program

Education Doctorate

Year Approved

2017

First Advisor

Boeve, Wallace

Abstract

Growth in physician assistant training programs is resulting in an increasing demand for qualified physician assistant faculty. Gaining an understanding of mentoring in PA education and its relationship to faculty job satisfaction and faculty turnover intentions is important. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the effectiveness of mentoring in relation to faculty perceived levels of job satisfaction and faculty turnover intentions for Physician Assistant (PA) Educators in the United States. A correlative cross-sectional web-based survey design, created from a combination of The Mentor Effectiveness Questionnaire, Job in General Scale, and the Turnover Intentions Measure, were used to gather quantitative data. Certified PAs, employed as full-time faculty members at Accreditation Review Commission on Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) accredited PA programs in the United States that subscribe to the Physician Assistant Education (PAEA) all faculty listserv was invited via e-mail to participate in the web-based survey (n = 593). Eighty-six participants met the criteria and completed the survey resulting in a return rate of 14.5 %. The findings of this study indicate that 60.5 % of participants reported receiving mentorship in their educational career, with 76% characterizing the relationship as informal. The Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted on respondent scores of job satisfaction and mentoring, resulting in no statistically significant relationship. Pearson correlations resulted in a statistically significant negative relationship between mentoring effectiveness and turnover intention. Results of the multiple linear regression identified a small predictive negative relationship between mentoring and faculty turnover intentions. The results of this study suggest mentoring relationships do not have a correlation with faculty job satisfaction but effective mentoring lowers faculty intent for turnover. Finally, implications, limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Degree Name

Education Doctorate

Document Type

Doctoral dissertation

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