A Conceptual Framework for Electronic Mentoring for People with Special Needs (Poster)

Recently, a growing number of electronic mentoring (e-mentoring) websites have become available to provide vocational and career support. E-mentoring, which refers to a mentoring relationship conducted via Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC), appears to be an accessible alternative for people with special needs. To date, few researchers have addressed the phenomenon of e-mentoring from a socio-emotional perspective for people with special needs (McDonald, Balcazar, & Keys, 2005; Miller & Griffiths, 2005). In response to this challenge, we conducted a pilot study which explored the feasibility and relevance implications of computer-mediated support (CMS) for youth with special needs (Shpigelman, Reiter, & Weiss, 2008). The three-month e-mentoring intervention program was based on mutual self-disclosure and socio-emotional support for five mentor-protégé pairs with a wide range of disabilities (physical, emotional, behavioral or intellectual impairments). The pairs were instructed to communicate via email and also to meet FTF o