Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to explore the formal mentoring experiences of junior nursing faculty. The nursing faculty were located in associate degree nursing programs in community colleges in the Southeast. Three broad research questions were developed to guide the study: (1) What are the lived experiences of junior faculty with formal mentoring? (2) What is the nature of the interactions that take place between mentor and mentee? (3) What meanings do the mentees assign to these interactions? A qualitative research design was used to conduct the study. The participants offered a depiction of the lived experience of the formal mentoring experiences of junior nursing faculty. The results of the data analyses indicated the nurse educators encountered struggles as they acclimated into the nurse educator role. The formal mentoring that was provided for the mentees fostered within them a sense of belonging that resulted in job satisfaction and a desire to remain in nursing education. The mentees trusted that their mentors provided the best mentoring and learning experiences for them as the mentors sat in the classroom and observed them, provided guidance with instructional development, and assisted with test construction. All of these mentor actions helped the new faculty members grow as educators. Understanding the mentoring experiences of novice nurse educators is important to nursing education. Nursing faculty members leave education for a myriad of reasons including salary, stress, unclear role expectations, and job satisfaction. Job satisfaction greatly influences a faculty member's decision to remain in nursing education. The retention of qualified nurse educators is crucial to overcoming the nursing faculty shortage, and a means to address this problem is the mentoring of new educators. The study findings affirmed the positive nature of formal mentoring when examining the experiences of junior nurse educators.
