• Examining Mentoring Case Narratives
    Posted on January 1, 2013

    This paper presents an explanation of mentoring case narratives, excerpts of case narratives, use of a structured protocol, and critical aspects of mentoring. Mentoring is contextually bound, with a variety of participants, settings, issues, needs, and time constraints, etc.  An effective tool in capturing mentoring contexts is the case narrative. Case narratives are defined as stories in which dilemmas are described that characterize a mentoring context grounded in actual experiences or events. We recommend the construction of case narratives as a reflective strategy across the disciplines for use in mentoring. Mentoring is complex, often ambiguous, and yet, directly affects each of us. While there are numerous definitions of mentoring, it is defined in this paper as "having two or more individuals willingly form a mutually respectful, trusting relationship focused on goals that foster the potential of the mentee, while considering the needs of the mentor and the context in which they must function” (Kochan, 2002). This paper was written by five doctoral students and their professor in a graduate level course focused on mentoring. In the course, we purposively chose to engage in individual and collective inquiry about the practice of mentoring. Using an interdisciplinary perspective, we reviewed the literature, discussed personal mentoring experiences, wrote mentoring case narratives, and engaged in critical discussion. This paper presents an explanation of mentoring case narratives, excerpts of case narratives, use of a structured protocol, and concludes with what we collectively learned about mentoring.