In an innovative group mentoring approach, four experienced midwives mentored four new graduates during their first year of practice. The new graduates were in practice as case-loading registered midwives having completed a three year Bachelor of Midwifery degree. Detailed data about the new graduates' concerns were collected throughout the year of the mentoring project. A range of practice areas—administrative, working environment, professional culture, clinical issues and the mentor group itself—were prominent issues. New graduates were concerned about their own professional development and about relationships with others particularly relationships within the hospital. Technical questions focussed more on craft knowledge that develops through experience than on clinical skills or knowledge. Identifying these concerns provides a foundation for mentors, preceptors and those designing professional development support programmes for the first year of practice. It may be that new graduate midwives educated in a profession with a narrowly defined scope of practice have a different range of concerns to new graduates who have wider scopes of practice. The use of a group model of mentoring for supporting new graduate midwives proved stimulating for mentors and highly supportive of new graduates.
Aims The aim of the study was to measure the impact of the mentorship training on the community midwives' knowledge, perceptions, and willingness to mentor. Methods A quasi-experimental pre- and post-design was used. A total of 50 community midwives were educated about mentorship, and data were collected through pre- and post-test questionnaires, and a 3-month follow-up. Findings There was a significant improvement in the knowledge of community midwives about mentorship (P=<0.001) and their willingness to mentor (P=<0.001). Their perceptions about the cost versus benefit of mentoring had improved (P=<0.001). During the follow-up, the majority of participants reported that they had begun working as a mentor. Conclusions Mentorship training was found to be effective in improving the knowledge, perceptions, and willingness of community midwives to mentor. A larger study in a different area of Pakistan is also recommended using a similar scheme.
<p>This research explores an innovative group mentoring model developed at the request of four newly graduated midwives who were mentored as a group by four experienced midwives. Since virtually all research on mentoring, both internationally and in New Zealand assumes that mentoring is a one-to-one activity, this study aimed to describe how this group mentoring model operated and explore whether it was successful in supporting new midwives to gain confidence. A naturalistic study design was used with a mixed methods approach to collecting and analysing a large amount of richly descriptive data. Data were gathered from records of individual contacts between mentors and new graduates, from a series of interviews with each of the eight participants, and from the actual audio recordings of regular group mentoring meetings across the mentoring year. Simple descriptive analysis of quantitative data and detailed thematic analysis of qualitative data were undertaken. The study found the group mentoring model provided everything that is expected of one-to-one mentoring and the new graduates felt well supported as they gained confidence during their first year in practice as autonomous self-employed midwives. The group model provided new graduates with 24/7 one-to-one mentor support whenever they asked for it. This was found to occur mostly in the first half of the year and was highly valued. The new graduates and the mentors all agreed that the most important part of the model were the regular group meetings. These meetings were entirely focused on day to day experiences that the new graduates chose to present to the group. Analysis of the meeting transcripts showed that the new graduates' issues ranged across the whole scope of practice; that they were sometimes prompted by self-reflection, sometimes by issues to do with relationships with others, and sometimes by a need to discuss technical matters. The mentors' responses were variously supportive; listening and exploring; directing or informing; and questioning or challenging. The group aspect of this mentoring model added a number of features that would not be possible in one-to-one mentoring. The new graduates valued how the group meetings exposed them to multiple perspectives from several mentors. The group meetings modelled a supportive and collegial way of working together that facilitated their emerging professional capacity now and into their future. The group provided a safe yet challenging space: a "stimulating sanctuary" for the new graduates' development. Overall the study found that group mentoring can successfully meet the needs of new graduates and provides several advantages over one-to-one mentoring. Group mentoring may be a more sustainable model than one-to-one, particularly where there are shortages of mentor midwives available. It is a model that promotes a supportive professional midwife culture, contributes to new knowledge in the area and is the preferred approach to mentoring in the future.</p>
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