Since the release of the Institute of Medicine's (2011)Future of Nursing report, nursing leaders and stakeholders have concurred that, despite progress, there remains a gap in the development of decision-making leaders prepared to redesign health systems and nursing programs to foster a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration and leadership development (Gorski, Farmer, Sroczynski, Close, & Wortock, 2015; Yakusheva, 2016). Honors programs are a potential mechanism that may add value to undergraduate nursing education and facilitate the professional development of high-achieving students, supporting their lifelong engagement in nursing practice, education, research, and health care policy issues (Lim, Nelson, Wikoski Stimpfel, Navarra, & Slater, 2015; Schumann & McNeill, 2008).
In a review of the nursing literature on honors education, Lim and colleagues (2015) found that a common facilitator described as essential for a successful honors program is one-to-one mentoring by dedicated faculty. Although mentorship is tacitly accepted as an integral component of honors programs, little is reported on how this concept is implemented and evaluated in nursing education and nursing honors programs.
Mentorship is described as collaborative and inclusive of formal or informal activities such as coaching, guiding, role modeling, and advising wherein the mentors invest dedicated time to assist mentees in reaching their full potential (Bryant et al., 2015; Tobin, 2004). Tobin identified seven roles of a mentor - teacher, sponsor, adviser, agent, role model, coach, and confidante - that serve to address both career and personal functions. In a concept analysis on mentorship in nursing, reciprocity, commitment, and accountability within the relationship were also identified as core components for mentors and mentees (Meier, 2013). In a qualitative study, Eller, Lev, and Feurer (2014) identified the following elements of an effective mentor-mentee relationship: open communication, accessibility, mutual trust and respect, knowledge building, and role modeling of the mentor; adjectives included inspiring and collaborative. According to Mikkonen, Elo, Tuomikoski, and Kaariainen (2016), mentees perceive a mentor as a guide who encourages a reciprocal relationship. A mentor should be able to show concern and support the mentee along the curriculum trajectory and address any queries related to academics, acclimation, and career pathways in nursing. Tsai and Helsel (2016) discussed the role of the mentee as the one who "drives the ship" (p. 644), indicating that to be successful the mentee must be proactive and remain actively engaged, facilitate open communication, respond to critical feedback, and maintain honest reflection.
To produce a cadre of new nursing graduates that espouse a culture of interprofessional collaboration, competency in leadership skills, and a goal to advance their education, the authors envision mentorship as the core of nursing honors program implementation and vital in achieving successful outcomes. The current study is a first step in exploring the expectations and preferences of undergraduate nursing students and full-time faculty regarding mentorship.
METHOD
This article is a primary descriptive analysis of open-ended survey questions that were part of a larger survey on nursing and honors education. The survey included questions on faculty and student experiences with and perceptions of honors education, interprofessional education (IPE), and mentorship. The analytic approach chosen was summative content analysis. The study was conducted at a college of nursing at a research-intensive university in the Northeast that is currently developing a new nursing honors program. Surveys were developed using an existing, unpublished measure to assess student interest in honors education incorporating the framework of IPE for collaborative practice (D'Amour & Oandasan, 2005).
During survey development, content review was performed by a national panel of faculty experts (n = 7) in nursing honors and/or IPE, with input from a small cohort of undergraduate nursing students with current or past experience in honors education (n = 8). Feedback was integrated into the final student and faculty surveys, which consisted of 34 and 35 questions (Likert scale and open-ended questions) related to experiences and perceptions about honors programs (6 items), interprofessional nursing honors education (4 items), barriers and facilitators in nursing honors implementation (4 items), and mentorship (15 items), in addition to demographic questions (5-6 items). The study was approved by the university's internal review board.
An invitation to complete the survey tools was sent via the university's direct email system to 630 undergraduate students and 64 full-time faculty members listed in the school's database. Data collection was conducted during a five-week period of the summer session of 2015. In total, 142 students (23 percent) and 24 faculty members (38 percent) responded to the surveys.
For this article, the following questions were analyzed using summative content analysis: 1) Please describe your expectations for a mentor in a formal mentor-mentee relationship. 2) Please describe your expectations for a mentee in a formal mentor-mentee relationship. Results of the qualitative responses from these questions were initially reviewed independently by four researchers, with each researcher identifying themes and supporting examples. The researchers then met to discuss and identify common terminology reflective of faculty and student perspectives, as well as representative quotes for the final themes.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The analysis of the open-ended responses revealed three themes related to each aspect of student and faculty expectations as follows: 1) faculty expectations of mentors, 2) student expectations of mentors, 3) faculty expectations of mentees, and 4) student expectations of mentees. In addition, commonly found key words were identified to provide further insight into the selected themes. Final themes, key words, and selected faculty and faculty student quotations for expectations of mentors and mentees are provided in Tables 1 and 2.
Students and faculty expressed some similar perspectives and expectations of mentorship, a pattern consistent with other studies (Bryant et al., 2015; Eller et al., 2014; Meier, 2013; Mikkonen et al., 2016; Tsai & Helsel, 2016). Both students and faculty identified facilitation (guiding, advising) and engagement (availability, mutual support) as key to fostering good mentoring relationships.
For the role of mentees, both groups specified accountability (self-motivated, accepting of feedback) and engagement (commitment, respect), which supports earlier research by Meier (2013). The theme of engagement, found as an expectation for mentors as well as mentees, demonstrates a desire among both parties that the relationship be seen as a partnership. Although they may define the partnership a little differently, both parties are committed to developing the relationship so it is mutually beneficial. Students perceived the role of mentee engagement as needing more direction from faculty, specifically as it relates to a sense of caring. Faculty perceived the engagement role of the mentee as more proactive, demonstrating a willingness to grow and learn.
Collaboration was seen only from the faculty perspective as an expectation for both the mentor and mentee. In contrast, students' expectations of a mentor were more as a personalized leader. This disparity could be attributed to the students' limited experience in collaborative professional relationships. Students valued personalization, hinting at the potential for the mentorship to build personal relationships that develop beyond the narrow confines of career benchmarks (Meier, 2013). Students perceived the need for more individualized attention in the relationship, particularly in the areas of professional and personal well-being and academic standing.
Despite these minor differences, these findings support the qualities of a mentor-mentee relationship as identified by Eller and colleagues (2014) and Tsai and Helsel (2016). However, results are limited by a sample of participants from one university located in an urban setting, thus reflecting a particular culture. Another limitation is the survey design; the findings reflect self-reported data based on personal perspectives from participants who may not have had prior experience in mentorship relationships or firsthand experience in an honors programs.
CONCLUSION
Findings from this study add to the sparse literature on the needs and perceptions of mentorship in the context of undergraduate nursing education and honors programs. From the themes in this study, it can also be gleaned that perception of the role of mentors may be evolving from a one-way flow as described by Tobin (2004) to a facilitator and collaborator role that evokes a perception of mutuality and partnership (Meier, 2013). These findings resonate the importance of thoughtful matching of mentorship pairs. Furthermore, the themes support the ultimate aim of mentorship, to help mentees achieve their full potential and elevate the capacity of a future nursing workforce prepared to be effective collaborators and leaders in today's rapidly changing health care landscape.
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