PILOT STUDY: FEASIBILITY AND CLARITY TESTING OF A CAREER MENTORSHIP PROGRAM SURVEY FOR DENTAL INTERNS AT KING ABDULAZIZ UNIVERSITY

Background: Mentorship is critical in dental education, influencing clinical competence, research engagement, and career decision-making. Structured mentorship remains underexplored in Saudi Arabia. A mentorship survey was designed at King Abdulaziz University to evaluate dental interns' perceptions. Before large-scale administration, a pilot study was conducted. Objective: To assess the feasibility, clarity, and acceptability of the survey and refine problematic questions.

Methods: Five dental interns completed a 23-item survey. Feedback was collected on wording, clarity, and length through post-survey debriefing. Responses were analyzed qualitatively, and revisions were made to questions that were ambiguous.

Results: All interns completed the survey in 10 minutes. Two questions (15 and 20) were consistently unclear. Q15 lacked specificity about the meaning of structured mentorship, they were confused if it meant being a part of the mentorship program or if the purpose of the program was to be a mentor, while Q20 was vague in defining the concerns some needed an example to understand the questions. Both were revised for clarity. Other items were considered relevant and understandable.