Mentoring: A nurse educator survey

Factors that impact implementation of mentorship programs in nursing academia: A sequential-explanatory mixed methods study

“…Within the literature, lack of leadership, direction, and encouragement from administration to support mentors and mentees was recognized as a key barrier to mentorship in academia. [40,41] For a mentorship program to be effective, faculty need to know their institution is actively supporting and facilitating the development of mentoring relationships. [42] Universities, as well as accreditation and quality evaluation agencies should be committed to faculty growth and development and should therefore provide adequate support to develop mentorship capacities.…”

“…The time required from both the mentor and mentee to engage in meaningful mentorship activities was the most frequently noted barrier to mentorship within the mentorship literature. [6,36,40,45,46] Just as a lack of time for mentorship was a barrier, protected time for mentorship was a facilitator. Mentors and mentees who had protected time for mentorship viewed the commitment from their institution as a sign of acceptance and support for mentoring activities.…”

“…Mentors and mentees who had protected time for mentorship viewed the commitment from their institution as a sign of acceptance and support for mentoring activities. [30,35,40] In some mentorship programs, faculty received acknowledgment and credit for time spent mentoring, as demonstrated by promotion and tenure, salary merit criteria, as well as workload calculations. [5] When designing and implementing mentorship programs, we recommend that consideration be given to time expectations and how they may encourage or discourage mentors and mentees to engage in mentoring activities.…”

“…[6,48,49] Cultural supports may include selection of departmental heads who are committed to facilitating mentorship through mentoring programs and committees, [49] and support the development of a noncompetitive environment. [40] When planning and implementing mentorship programs we recommend strategies to mitigate the culture of competitiveness recognizing that the current state of research funding potentially increases this competitive environment.…”

“…[35,50] Authors have recommended ongoing evaluation, including formative and summative evaluation, with defined mentorship benchmarks. [32,40] Without rigorous evaluation of mentorship programs, it is challenging to draw conclusions regarding the achievement of specified goals. We recommend that mentorship programs are thoroughly assessed and mentoring-relevant outcomes are reported to highlight if mentorship programs are a worthy investment.…”