The value of mentoring in nursing leadership: a descriptive study

Mentoring: Some cautionary notes for the nursing profession

Abstract Mentoring has been embraced in nursing as a way of socialising new nurses into the profession, growing and developing nursing talent, and more recently as a way to retain experienced nurses with the current nursing shortage. Much of the extant literature focusses on the benefits of mentoring, differences between formal and informal mentoring, the elements of a successful mentoring relationship, and the characteristics of 'good' mentors and protégées. Until recently the research on mentoring has almost exclusively focused on the positive aspects of mentoring for the protégées, organisations and to a lesser extent, mentors. While viewed by many as a beneficial and enriching developmental experience, it is equally important to recognise that there can be a darker side to the mentoring experience for the mentor and protégée. This paper will explore the negative aspects associated with mentoring and mentoring relationships and provide some cautionary notes for nursing.

The effect of mentoring on career satisfaction of registered nurses and intent to stay in the nursing profession

Mentoring is important in the career development of novice and experienced nurses. With the anticipated shortage in nursing, it is important to explore factors such as mentoring that may contribute to career satisfaction and intent to stay in the profession. This study explored the effects of mentoring on career satisfaction and intent to stay in nursing, and the relationship between career satisfaction and intent to stay in nursing. It was conducted through a mailed survey of RNs 55 years or younger currently in practice, education, administration, or research. Career satisfaction was measured through the use of the newly developed Mariani Nursing Career Satisfaction Scale. Findings revealed no statistically significant effect of mentoring on career satisfaction and intent to stay in nursing. There was a statistically significant relationship between career satisfaction and intent to stay in nursing. The majority of nurses reported participating in a mentoring relationship. Although the findings related to mentoring, career satisfaction, and intent to stay were not statistically significant, there was a prevalence of mentoring in nursing, thus suggesting the need for future research to identify outcomes of mentoring. In addition, the study contributed a newly developed instrument to measure the concept of career satisfaction in nursing.

Evaluation of a research mentorship program in community care

This article describes the results of a qualitative case study evaluating a research mentorship program in community care settings in Ontario, Canada. The purpose of the program was to build evaluation and research capacity among staff of community care agencies through a mentorship program. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, and written evaluations. Three themes were identified: taking hold, fostering hold, and holding on. Mentees took hold of new evaluation and research skills. Factors fostering hold included positive mentoring relationships and participation in relevant research projects. Mentees struggled to hold on to, and apply their skills within a community care context of challenges such as constrained resources and a mandate to provide client-centered care. The lessons learned include having trainees participate in relevant, time-limited evaluation and research projects, and early implementation of mechanisms to sustain integration of trainees' knowledge and skills within community care agencies.

The Role of Mentoring in Developing African American Nurse Leaders

The primary purpose of this study was to explore the role of mentoring in the development of African American nurses who have achieved leadership positions in baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs. This study also explored similar and dissimilar mentoring experiences in same-race versus cross-race mentoring relationships. The theoretical framework for this study was Levinson’s adult developmental theory. A sequential mixed design was utilized. Forty-seven African American nurse leaders participated in Phase 1, and 10 of the 47 were interviewed in Phase 2. The findings showed that mentoring plays a role in the personal and professional development of African American nurse leaders in baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs. Moreover, the relevance of race varies in both same-race and cross-race mentoring relationships.

Measuring the effectiveness of faculty mentoring relationships

"Mentor" is a term widely used in academic medicine but for which there is no consensus on an operational definition. Further, criteria are rarely reported for evaluating the effectiveness of mentoring. This article presents the work of an Ad Hoc Faculty Mentoring Committee whose tasks were to define "mentorship," specify concrete characteristics and responsibilities of mentors that are measurable, and develop new tools to evaluate the effectiveness of the mentoring relationship. The committee developed two tools: the Mentorship Profile Questionnaire, which describes the characteristics and outcome measures of the mentoring relationship from the perspective of the mentee, and the Mentorship Effectiveness Scale, a 12-item six-point agree-disagree-format Likert-type rating scale, which evaluates 12 behavioral characteristics of the mentor. These instruments are explained and copies are provided. Psychometric issues, including the importance of content-related validity evidence, response bias due to acquiescence and halo effects, and limitations on collecting reliability evidence, are examined in the context of the mentor-mentee relationship. Directions for future research are suggested.

Nurses' self-relation--becoming theoretically competent: the SAUC model for confirming nursing

The purpose of this study was to acquire an understanding of how nurses' self-relation (view of themselves as nurses) was influenced in connection with implementation of a nursing theory, the sympathy-acceptance-understanding-competence model for confirming nursing. This model was developed by Gustafsson and Pörn. Twenty-two nurses' written statements evaluating mentoring during the six-month implementation process in elder care, were analyzed hermeneutically with the hypothetic-deductive method. An action-theoretic and confirmatory approach was used for facilitating theoretically specified hypotheses. The nurses increased their ability to describe nursing theoretically and gained a foundation of common nursing values. The results provided an understanding of how nurses' self-relation was strengthened by becoming theoretically competent.

A collegial mentoring model for nurse educators

TOPIC

A mentoring model for nurse educators.

PURPOSE

To describe the current literature on mentoring in nursing and education and present the Collegial Mentoring Model.

SOURCES

Published literature and personal and professional experiences of nurse educators in academia.

CONCLUSIONS

Commitment to the collegial mentoring relationship can be demonstrated by making time for togetherness so outcomes beneficial to both individuals can be achieved.

Academic mentorship: an effective professional development strategy for medical reference librarians

Academic mentorship is a professional development strategy that enables fledgling professionals to take advantage of the skills and expertise of the senior members for professional growth. Although widely practiced in many other professions, academic mentorship has not been widely reported in medical librarianship. Drawing upon personal experience, the author reports the success story of an academic mentorship program implemented in an academic medical library and argues for academic mentorship to be widely adopted in academic medical libraries. This paper first reviews the literature on the concept of mentoring in an academic setting, and then describes the background, rationale, methods, and results of the mentorship programs the author has experienced. Lastly, based upon an analysis of several surveys and studies on coping skills for quality job performance of health sciences reference librarians, the paper discusses mentorship as one effective means to ease a new medical reference librarian's transition from his/her pre-service experience to the professional world of medical librarianship. It calls on other health sciences librarians to consider developing their own mentorship programs to promote their professional development and personal growth.

Mentoring benefits and issues for public health nurses

New public health nurses (PHNs) move from novice to expert status with enormous expectations from their organization, their peers, and themselves. These expectations lead to stress that may be beyond the level of endurance. Mentoring is an important answer to this problem. Mentoring is the greatest gift PHNs can give to each other, especially for PHNs who self-identified themselves as minority cultural group members. This article describes definitions, roles, benefits, and responsibilities of mentors and mentees and includes mentoring concerns, current and proposed mentoring programs, and mentoring issues for gender and race. Organizational mentoring programs can be created that will facilitate the development of mentoring relationships. These programs help experienced PHNs bridge the gap between the theory and reality of nursing for themselves and inexperienced colleagues.

An Experience of Peer Mentoring with Student Nurses: Enhancement of Personal and Professional Growth

This article discusses the importance of peer mentoring in nursing education. The current literature is reviewed and areas for further research are identified. Most specifically, the article explores the results of a recent research study conducted at Southern Cross University in Australia. The research investigated the relationship between personal and professional growth and peer mentoring with a group of women nurses. Seven nurses participated in this qualitative research project. Six of the participants were student nurses enrolled in an undergraduate nursing degree and the seventh participant was the degree program coordinator. The research was conducted over a 12-week period and was located in critical paradigm. The research methods used were reflective journaling and interviewing. The results indicated that the process of peer mentoring in nursing education demonstrated a strong relationship to personal and professional growth for all of the participants. Characteristics of the peer mentoring process such as shared learning, shared caring, reciprocity, commitment to each other's personal and professional growth, and friendship, are discussed.

The road to success with a mentor

Mentoring is a valuable career development tool used to build nursing leadership skills. Our present nursing leaders must consider it their responsibility to mentor the novice leader of the future, just as they may have been mentored. During the mentoring process, the mentor will use the roles of teacher, counselor, intervenor, and sponsor to develop the protégé. The mentor will facilitate the development of independence, self-confidence, job satisfaction, upward mobility, decision-making skills, and problem-solving skills in the protégé. During this process the mentor and protégé will move through three developmental phases. These phases include the first phase of recognition and development, the second phase of emerging protégé independence, and the final phase of letting go. If the "fit" is right, the protégé will experience the many positive outcomes. If the "fit" is not quite right, then the movement through the phases will be incomplete and the protégé may not develop independence. The protégé and the mentor may also experience a number of other negative outcomes, such as feelings of being over pressured or let down.

Mentoring new faculty

This is a report of the process and evaluation of 12 years of mentoring new faculty in a university nursing faculty of 48 members. Each new faculty member is paired with an experienced faculty member who serves as a mentor for a year. Evaluations completed by both new faculty and mentors at the end of the year are positive.

A prearranged mentorship program: can it work long distance?

Mentoring is a supportive and nurturing relationship between an expert and a novice. A formal mentorship program was embarked on by the Southern Council on Collegiate Education in Nursing during the early 1990s. The purpose of this article is to share the unique experience of two faculty who were assigned as mentors through a written inventory process and who were able to establish a successful mentorship, overcoming the barriers of time, distance, and an apparent mismatch of interests and clinical skills. The authors recommend mentoring as an important professional endeavor. Everyone-mentor, protégé, and the nursing profession as a whole-gains during the mentoring process.