“Nurturing a trusting learning community”: perceptions of relationships in a health professions education peer mentorship program

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to investigate student mentors' perceptions of peer mentor relationships in a health professions education program. Design/methodology/approach The design uses embodied hermeneutic phenomenology. The data comprise 10 participant interviews and visual “body maps” produced in response to guided questions. Findings The findings about student mentors' perceptions of peer mentor relationships include a core theme of nurturing a trusting learning community and five related themes of attunement to mentees, commonality of experiences, friends with boundaries, reciprocity in learning and varied learning spaces. Originality/value The study contributes original insights by highlighting complexity, shifting boundaries, liminality, embodied social understanding and trusting intersubjective relations as key considerations in student peer mentor relationships.