Small Group Mentoring in Breast Radiology-Key Benefits of a Topic-Based Approach: A Pilot Program from the Society of Breast Imaging.

OBJECTIVE

Small, topic-based mentorship groups, an alternative to one-on-one mentoring, were piloted by the Society of Breast Imaging's (SBI) Mentorship Committee (MC). This study reports the pilot program's logistics and perceived effectiveness based on participant surveys.

METHODS

The MC selected six mentorship topics: Fellowship Directors, Division Chiefs, Financial Literacy, Scholarship, Early Career Faculty, and Early Career Trainees. Groups were comprised of mentees, mentors, and a facilitator from the MC. Emails to SBI membership recruited participants in July 2024. Subsequently, quarterly one-hour virtual meetings were arranged by facilitators. A final survey to assess the program was distributed August 11, 2025 to September 22, 2025. Comparisons were analyzed using unpaired t-test, with P < 0.05 considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

The pilot program involved 48 mentees, 11 mentors, and 6 facilitators. Of these, 66% (42/64) responded to the survey. Among respondents, 93% (39/42) attended at least two meetings and 64% (27/42) attended all four. When asked to rate the program on a 1-10 scale (10 = "extremely valuable"), the average response was 9.03 with mentees rating it higher than mentors (9.46 vs 7.53, P = 0.004). Likert scale average responses (1-5 with 5 = "strongly agree") were closest to "strongly agree" for most questions (total average 4.6/5, range 4.38-4.8). For 41% (17/41) of respondents, the program was their only current mentoring relationship. In addition, 38% (15/40) indicated that the program led them to seek additional mentoring opportunities.

CONCLUSION

The SBI Topic-Based Small Group Mentoring pilot effectively met the needs of most respondents, supporting its establishment as a sustained program for improving mentorship within the SBI community.