E-Mentorship in Speech-Language Pathology

Abstract

Abstract Current literature on mentorship stems from the fields of higher education, intercultural psychology and counseling and focuses on the personal, interpersonal, and professional aspects that facilitate positive and successful relationships. However, these aspects have seldom been explored in speech- language pathology literature even though mentorship occurs in all facets of the field (student training, as well as clinical and academic settings). Despite a growing consensus in the field that mentorship promotes the development of theoretical and clinical knowledge, there is a dearth of speech-language pathology research exploring collaborative and synergistic frameworks of mentorship which promote interpersonal skill development. Such learning is specifically relevant to perseverance during difficult times, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we suggest a new model of "e-mentorship" or remote mentorship as an alternative to the canonical model of face-to-face mentorship. Subsequently, we define the potential roles that a mentor and a mentee could assume in this context by linking interpersonal and professional skills in an innovative tutorial for e-mentorship in speech-language pathology.