Development and implementation of a novel peer mentoring program for undergraduate nursing students
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Mercy Ngosa Mumba
,
Abby Grammer Horton
Abstract
Objectives
Given the dynamic and high-stress environment of nursing education today, the need arose for the development and implementation of a novel peer mentoring program to support undergraduate nursing students. Peer mentoring refers to a network of support in which a more skilled or experienced person serves as a role model for a less skilled person for professional development and personal growth. Peer mentoring provides a support system that encourages self-confidence and increases self-worth for both the mentee and the mentor. The undergraduate student peer mentoring program in a large, Southeastern United States, university-based, 4-year school of nursing was created in response to a desire for more support conveyed by upper-level nursing students.
Methods
A model was developed whereby each incoming nursing student (Semester 1) would be paired with a senior nursing student (Semesters 3, 4, or 5). This mentoring dyad was then assigned to a faculty mentor who ensured that the mentoring relationship was functioning in accordance with established guidelines and provided support to both the student mentee and the student mentor.
Results
The first cohort was comprised of 20 mentoring dyads. Subsequent cohorts have ranged from 20 to 45 mentoring dyads. To date, over 300 nursing students have participated in the undergraduate peer mentoring program. Based on feedback from student evaluation surveys, both mentors and mentees appreciate and find value in the program. Approximately 93% of student mentors indicated that they would have appreciated such a program when they were first semester nursing students.
Conclusion
Some of the challenges of navigating nursing programs are not related to lack of academic aptitude. Rather, other challenges, including lack of social support and soft skills needed to successfully complete the first and second semesters of nursing school. These are critical challenges that a peer mentor could help to meet.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge all the student and faculty mentors at the University of Alabama Capstone College of Nursing who have participated in this peer mentoring program.
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Research funding: None declared.
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Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
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Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.
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Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.
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Ethical approval: The local Institutional Review Board approved evaluation of student aggregate data for this report.
References
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© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Literature Reviews
- Factors associated with mental health among undergraduate nursing students early in the COVID-19 pandemic: an integrative review
- Experiences of new tenure-track PhD-prepared faculty: a scoping review
- A systematic review of videoconferencing in health professions education: the digital divide revisited in the COVID-19 era
- Research Articles
- Effectiveness of educational video on standardized nursing language for nursing home nurses
- Exploring entry pathways towards nurse practitioner program admissions: a rapid review
- Online learning challenges as experienced by nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic at a higher education institution in Gauteng, South Africa
- Clinical judgment in new nurse graduates: identifying the gaps
- Metacognition and learning transfer under uncertainty
- Perceived knowledge on the ICNP© in undergraduate nursing students: the development of a scale
- Psychometric evaluation of critical incident video instruments for nursing education
- Understanding the impostor phenomenon in graduate nursing students
- E-learning modules to enhance student nurses’ perceptions of older people: a single group pre-post quasi-experimental study
- Self-perceived competence and its related factors in nursing students at graduation: the role of self-efficacy
- Stress, depression, and anxiety among undergraduate nursing students in the time of a pandemic
- Decision-based learning for teaching arterial blood gas analysis
- The impact of university-based education on nursing professional identity: a qualitative examination of students’ experiences
- “You have to strive very hard to prove yourself”: experiences of Black nursing students in a Western Canadian province
- Stressors and learned resourcefulness in baccalaureate nursing students: a longitudinal study
- Faculty experiences of teaching internationally educated nurses: a qualitative study
- Changes in grit and psychological capital at the time of major crisis: nursing students’ perseverance, resources, and resilience
- Improving practicing nurses’ knowledge of the cognitive impairment, continence, and mobility needs of older people
- A multi-layered approach to developing academic written communication skills for nursing students
- Jordanian nursing students’ engagement and satisfaction with e-learning during COVID-19 pandemic
- Barriers and facilitators to enrolling in nursing programs as perceived by male students: a qualitative study in the United Arab Emirates
- Nursing students’ achievement emotions in association with clinical practicums and alternative learning
- A multisite transition to nursing program: an innovative approach to facilitate incoming nursing students’ academic success
- Understanding the student’s experience of community health nursing simulations
- Collaborative online international learning in undergraduate nursing education: from inspiration to impact
- Educational Process, Issue, Trend
- Implementing an LGBTQ+ interprofessional simulation with undergraduate nursing students
- Dialogues on nursing curriculum and pedagogy: a critical planning activity for global educational collaboration
- Understanding poverty through virtual simulation: implications for student clinical practice
- Engaging the creative heArts of nurse educators: a novel conceptual model
- Resilience in nursing education: an evolutionary concept analysis
- A review and comparison of post registration midwifery curriculum in Sri Lanka with global standards
- Steps toward a resilient future nurse workforce
- Perspectives of student incivility in the online learning environment and social media platforms
- Development and implementation of a novel peer mentoring program for undergraduate nursing students
Articles in the same Issue
- Literature Reviews
- Factors associated with mental health among undergraduate nursing students early in the COVID-19 pandemic: an integrative review
- Experiences of new tenure-track PhD-prepared faculty: a scoping review
- A systematic review of videoconferencing in health professions education: the digital divide revisited in the COVID-19 era
- Research Articles
- Effectiveness of educational video on standardized nursing language for nursing home nurses
- Exploring entry pathways towards nurse practitioner program admissions: a rapid review
- Online learning challenges as experienced by nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic at a higher education institution in Gauteng, South Africa
- Clinical judgment in new nurse graduates: identifying the gaps
- Metacognition and learning transfer under uncertainty
- Perceived knowledge on the ICNP© in undergraduate nursing students: the development of a scale
- Psychometric evaluation of critical incident video instruments for nursing education
- Understanding the impostor phenomenon in graduate nursing students
- E-learning modules to enhance student nurses’ perceptions of older people: a single group pre-post quasi-experimental study
- Self-perceived competence and its related factors in nursing students at graduation: the role of self-efficacy
- Stress, depression, and anxiety among undergraduate nursing students in the time of a pandemic
- Decision-based learning for teaching arterial blood gas analysis
- The impact of university-based education on nursing professional identity: a qualitative examination of students’ experiences
- “You have to strive very hard to prove yourself”: experiences of Black nursing students in a Western Canadian province
- Stressors and learned resourcefulness in baccalaureate nursing students: a longitudinal study
- Faculty experiences of teaching internationally educated nurses: a qualitative study
- Changes in grit and psychological capital at the time of major crisis: nursing students’ perseverance, resources, and resilience
- Improving practicing nurses’ knowledge of the cognitive impairment, continence, and mobility needs of older people
- A multi-layered approach to developing academic written communication skills for nursing students
- Jordanian nursing students’ engagement and satisfaction with e-learning during COVID-19 pandemic
- Barriers and facilitators to enrolling in nursing programs as perceived by male students: a qualitative study in the United Arab Emirates
- Nursing students’ achievement emotions in association with clinical practicums and alternative learning
- A multisite transition to nursing program: an innovative approach to facilitate incoming nursing students’ academic success
- Understanding the student’s experience of community health nursing simulations
- Collaborative online international learning in undergraduate nursing education: from inspiration to impact
- Educational Process, Issue, Trend
- Implementing an LGBTQ+ interprofessional simulation with undergraduate nursing students
- Dialogues on nursing curriculum and pedagogy: a critical planning activity for global educational collaboration
- Understanding poverty through virtual simulation: implications for student clinical practice
- Engaging the creative heArts of nurse educators: a novel conceptual model
- Resilience in nursing education: an evolutionary concept analysis
- A review and comparison of post registration midwifery curriculum in Sri Lanka with global standards
- Steps toward a resilient future nurse workforce
- Perspectives of student incivility in the online learning environment and social media platforms
- Development and implementation of a novel peer mentoring program for undergraduate nursing students
