Date
8-9-2022
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (EdD)
Chair
Jessica Talada
Keywords
qualitative, mentoring, mentors, recruitment, phenomenological
Disciplines
Education | Educational Leadership
Recommended Citation
King, Elaine Ann, "Recruitment and Retention of Male High School Peer Mentors: A Phenomenological Study" (2022). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 3756.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/3756
Abstract
The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological qualitative study was to develop an understanding of the experiences of high school male mentors who participate in mentor activities for peers with disabilities. The study of high school male mentors was viewed from the theoretical viewpoint of George C. Humans’s (1958) social exchange theory, as it addressed the relationships of high school male mentors in terms of establishing, prolonging, and dissolving relationships as mentors for peers with disabilities. The study answered the following central research question: How do male high school mentors of students with disabilities describe their experiences? Criterion sampling was used to select 12 to 15 male mentors from the state of Pennsylvania. The data were collected through individual interviews, reflective journals, and a focus group and analyzed using Clark Moustakas’s (1994) transcendental phenomenological approach. The data that was analyzed yielded five themes and four subthemes during data analysis. The themes were recruitment, personal growth, personal challenges, mindset, and life decisions. The subthemes were internal gratification, relationships, reactions of others, and becoming a better person.
