Mentoring and Development of Self-Efficacy in Women Engineering Academics: Evidence from a Professional Development Intervention

Abstract

This study examined changes in self-efficacy associated with participation in a mentoring program for women engineering academics. The intervention included an initial training phase delivered through a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), followed by a series of structured mentoring sessions aimed at strengthening self-efficacy. A quantitative approach with a repeated-measures design was employed, involving pre- and post-intervention assessments with a sample of women academics. Self-efficacy was assessed using a previously validated instrument, and data analysis included descriptive statistics, the Shapiro–Wilk normality test, and a nonparametric test for related samples, in addition to the calculation of effect size. The results show an increase in self-efficacy levels after the intervention. These findings suggest that mentoring programs can contribute to strengthening professional confidence among women academics in engineering and provide evidence on training strategies aimed at supporting professional development at advanced stages of the academic career.