Perspectives of College Students With Intellectual Disability on Peer Mentoring Relationships

Abstract

This study aimed to understand how students with intellectual disability perceived mentoring relationships with nondisabled peers within an inclusive mentoring course. Data sources included a variety of course-related products created by mentoring partners as well as their reflections on the course and their mentoring relationships. Qualitative analyses proceeded through multiple rounds of deductive coding utilizing a conceptual framework of effective mentoring practice and inductive coding to identify critical themes from the perspectives of students with ID. A central finding related to how particular mentoring course concepts (e.g., person-centered) and structures (e.g., shared goal setting) supported students with ID to view themselves as active agents in their mentoring relationships and experience reciprocity with nondisabled peers. Students valued social coaching but desired connections to a wider range of peers. Consideration is given to situating elements of the course-based approach within campus programs not focused exclusively on students with disabilities and the importance of acknowledging students’ intersectional social identities.