Assessment of university experiences and mentoring perceptions of health education graduate students

The purpose of this study was to assess and compare university experiences and mentoring perceptions of master's and doctoral students enrolled in health education graduate programs. The sample used for this study was full and part-time enrolled graduate students in health education programs (completed at least 12 hours of graduate work) at three Texas universities, ages 20–55+ years old. The instruments used to collect data for the study consisted of the College Student Experiences Questionnaire, a nationally recognized questionnaire that has been administered in a large number of colleges and universities throughout the United States, and the Perceptions of Mentoring Questionnaire, developed by the researcher. These instruments were used to collect data on Quality of Effort, College Environment, Estimate of Gains, and Mentoring Perceptions of master's and doctoral students in health education programs. The questionnaires were distributed via class instructors and participants completed the questionnaires either in or outside of class. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. A total of 72 completed questionnaires, 45 master's students (62%) and 27 doctoral students (38%), were used for data analyses. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, and correlation analysis. The results of the study indicated no statistically significant differences in Quality of Effort, College Environment, Estimate of Gains, and Mentoring Perceptions when comparing master's and doctoral students in health education programs. The study also showed that there were statistically significant relationships (mild and moderate positive and negative) between these same variables. These findings suggest mentoring could have a positive impact on both master's and doctoral health education students, in relation to their academic and professional development.