peer mentors compare and contrast

Why Mentees Feel Socially Supported from Peer Mentorship
Compare and Contrast Essay:  Peer Mentors
Lucas and James (2018) evaluate the effect of specialist mentoring on college students with autism and other mental health conditions and found that mentees receive academic, social and emotional support from their mentors. However, the researchers also observed group differences between those with autism and those with other mental health issues. What makes a relationship between mentor and mentee work best according to the findings of Lucas and James (2018) is when the relationship is customized to fit the needs of the mentee: tailored relationships that focus on developing a personal relationship, empowering the mentee and constructing a “bridge” that enables the mentee to become more involved in the university experience were all seen as significant and powerful ways for the mentee to benefit from peer mentoring. The researchers also concluded the mentors benefited from peer mentorship as well in terms of having greater sense of satisfaction and community life.
The study by Ashbaugh, Koegel and Koegel (2017) reported a similar beneficial effect upon students with autism when those students were paired with a mentor. Their study was different, however, in terms of the intervention utilized. Whereas Lucas and James (2018) looked directly the impact of peer mentorship upon students with autism and other mental health challenges, Ashbaugh et al. (2017) looked at a social planning intervention and its effect upon autistic students in terms of their ability to become more engaged socially on campus. Part of the intervention included the use of peer mentors who provided social and academic support for the autistic participants. Asbaugh et al. (2017) reported that the intervention helped the students to become more socially engaged on campus and it also helped to improve their academic performance in the classroom. There was a combined effect between the social support intervention and the use of peer mentoring that helped the students reach their potential as fully engaged students on campus, capable of overcoming the challenges posed by their autism. Their study was more qualitative than quantitative, whereas the study by Lucas and James (2018) used a mixed-methods approach, but both essentially arrived at the same conclusion: peer mentorship has a positive and beneficial effect on college students with autism.
The study by Colclough (2018) focuses on recognizing the diversity among students with autism at the university level. The researcher begins by noting that there is a gap in terms of understanding the diverse experiences and range of ability among students with autism embarking on their undergraduate education. One important point that the researcher does note, however, is that 80% of students with autism at the college level attend a community college. This is important for consideration because it differs significantly from non-autism student statistics and it implies that autistic students are much less likely to go away for school than are students who have autism. The study was qualitative in design and used semi-structured interviews to obtain data on the feelings of the autistic students towards their level of social engagement when going to school. The study was more exploratory than the study by Ashbaugh et al. (2017) or the study by Lucas and James (2018), both of which were more evaluative. The study by Colclough (2018), however, was focused on diving more deeply into the issue of socialization and autistic students. Unlike the other two studies by Ashbaugh et al. (2017) and Lucas and James (2018), which focused directly or at least indirectly on peer mentoring and its impact on autistic students, the study by Colclough (2018) did not look at peer mentoring’s impact on the socialization of autistic students at university. The researcher mentioned peer mentoring as one factor in the process of socialization, but the aim of the research was more focused on understanding more deeply the experiences of autistic students at the collegiate level. The researchers concluded, nonetheless, that there is an opportunity to assist this population by offering more support groups and interventions, similar to what peer mentoring provides. Thus, the study implicitly supported the findings of Lucas and James (2018) and Ashbaugh et al. (2017) even though it proceeded in its examination and exploration of the topic by using an entirely different methodology and focus.
Sarrett (2018) looks at the accommodations made for autism students at the university level and used a mixed-methods approach similar to that of Lucas and James (2018). The design of the study involved using surveys to gather an initial set of data from participants and then to select a second group of participants from the initial sample to participate in focus groups. The focus of the study is on the accommodations that autistic students receive from their respective colleges and what accommodations they would like to receive. This study thus differs from those by Ashbaugh et al. (2017), Colclough (2018) and Lucas and James (2018) in that it is not evaluating a particular implementation or exploring the experience of autistic students so much as it is measuring their satisfaction levels with their collegiate experience and assessing whether they feel like they are being accommodated to the degree that they would like to be received and would like to be fitting in with the university. The study showed that overall less than half of those surveyed received any accommodations in the way of disability services. A third of those who did receive accommodations felt that their accommodations were not adequate in meeting their needs.
In short, Sarrett (2018) showed that autistic students at universities feel like they are an underserved population and require more from their universities in terms of supportive services. Specifically, these students believed that universities were not doing enough to provide for their “sensory, social, academic, or psychiatric needs” (Sarrett, 2018, p. 685). This finding partially supports the findings of Ashbaugh et al. (2017), Colclough (2018), and Lucas and James (2018) in that those three studies also showed that autistic students are in need of support for their social needs and academic needs. However, what Sarrett (2018) found that was different from the other studies was that autistic students also have basic sensory needs and psychiatric needs. This population is thus especially vulnerable to sensory inputs and psychological inputs that other students are not vulnerable to and there should be special accommodations made for them by the universities. Sarrett (2018) provides some recommendations for universities in terms of how they can better accommodate these students and some of the suggestions include an autism awareness campaign on campus. One more interesting finding was that autistic students wished that they could opt out of certain degree requirements that they felt they would never use. This is not actually a desire that is unique among the autism population, though, and further research would likely show that the majority of college students would like to opt out of classes that they thought they would never need or use in their careers.
The study by Beltman, Helker and Fischer (2019) focused on mentors rather than mentees, as opposed to the focus of the other studies by Ashbaugh et al. (2017), Colclough (2018), Lucas and James (2018) and Sarrett (2018) on mentees or at least on the autistic collegiate population. The focus of Beltman et al. (2019) on mentors and the benefits that they accrue form mentoring serves to provide a foundation for promotion of mentoring services among students. The overall findings of the study showed that mentoring students gained a sense of self-worth and self-esteem by mentoring other students; they felt more engaged in their own university experience and they were more fulfilled in general with a more positive attitude being developed. The merits of this study are that it shows that mentoring is a positive experience for non-autistic students just as much as it is for autistic students. The study differs from the others in that it’s sole focus is on the mentor rather than on the mentee. However, it was similar to the other studies in that it employed a qualitative research design in order to better explore the experiences of mentors so as to understand more fully what they went through when they volunteered to help teach and provide services for other students. The study did not even focus only on mentors of autistic students but rather simply on mentors in general, so the study was not in any ways connected to the other studies that were surveyed other than it focused on mentoring—which is a topic that Colclough (2018) and Sarrett (2018) did not even really touch upon. Thus it brings the other side of the mentor-mentee perspective more into focus.
Rando, Huber and Oswald (2016) evaluated the utility of a transition program designed to help autistic students transition from high school to college; the program was called Raiders on the Autism Spectrum Excelling (RASE). RASE was found to improve the GPA of autistic students over the course of two semesters and it also helped to decrease the number of behavioral problems that this population encountered on campus. The participants in the program reported a high level of satisfaction with it and the intervention overall resembled the intervention of Ashbaugh et al. (2017) and Lucas and James (2018). The researchers found that by giving special attention to autistic students who have unique social and academic needs, colleges can provide the support that this population requires. Peer mentoring served as the foundational model for the intervention, and the conclusion of the researchers is that peer mentoring is essential at least in terms of the intervention having that mentor spirit. If autistic students are going to transition well from secondary education to undergraduate education then they better have the necessary support network, and mentoring can be one of the pillars of that network, according to Rando et al. (2016).
These six studies showed overall that peer mentoring is a helpful intervention for autistic students. Though not every study focused specifically on peer mentoring, the majority of them did at least touch upon it in some way. Those that focused on it explicitly all supported and corroborated one another. There were no negative findings in connection with peer mentoring, whether for the mentee or the mentor. However, one study did show that the degree to which personal relationships are fostered will play a difference in the extent to which the intervention is as beneficial as it could be. The general consensus is that autistic students need social and academic support from mentors and they could also use sensory and psychological support from the university. If they could also be permitted to tailor their own classes then they would be the most fulfilled student population on campus, and it would likely cause other student populations to push for the same, so it is worth considering whether universities should seek to satisfy to the fullest their student populations.
References
Ashbaugh, K., Koegel, R. L., & Koegel, L. K. (2017). Increasing social integration for college students with autism spectrum disorder. Behavioral Development Bulletin, 22(1), 183.
Beltman, S., Helker, K., & Fischer, S. (2019). ‘I really enjoy it’: emotional engagement of university peer mentors. International Journal of Emotional Education, 11(2), 50-70.
Colclough PhD, M. N. (2018). Exploring Student Diversity: College Students Who Have Autism Spectrum Disorders. Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges, 21(1), 5.
Lucas, R., & James, A. I. (2018). An evaluation of specialist mentoring for university students with autism spectrum disorders and mental health conditions. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48(3), 694-707.
Rando, H., Huber, M. J., & Oswald, G. R. (2016). An Academic Coaching Model Intervention for College Students on the Autism Spectrum. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 29(3), 257-262.
Sarrett, J. C. (2018). Autism and accommodations in higher education: Insights from the autism community. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48(3), 679-693.