A Content Analysis of Counseling Mentorship in Higher Education: 1996-2017

The topic of mentorship in the counseling profession received additional interest following the publication of the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) guidelines for research mentorship. An examination of mentorship articles across time may assist researchers in the field in understanding how mentorship research has developed in the profession. This content analysis of counseling mentorship includes 165 mentorship articles published across 27 professional counseling journals from 1996-2017. Articles were coded, separated into types of research and methodology, then arranged by focus. Common focus areas included mentorship of students, obituary or honorary article, and guidance or best practices. The analysis revealed a need for increased empirical research, following the publication of, and editorial calls for, mentorship guidelines and research.