A transition to e-mentoring: factors that influence nurse engagement

E-mentoring is a form of mentoring that uses the Internet to remove the boundaries of traditional mentoring. Instead of face-to-face and synchronous communication, interactions between mentor(s) and protégé(s) of e-mentoring relationships are primarily asynchronous. Since there was limited information about nurses and e-mentoring in the literature, this quantitative study was undertaken to explore nurses' attitudes and the identification of facilitators and constraints that could influence the adoption of e-mentoring. Overall, participants (n = 139) had positive attitudes; there were differences in attitudes between participants who had previously experienced mentoring and those who never had (P < .05). The likely-to-engage group had more positive attitudes and identified more facilitators and fewer constraints than did the indecisive and not-likely groups (P < .001). Age and attitudes had a positive relationship with e-mentoring (P = .01). These findings suggest that e-mentoring can be adopted by nurses of all ages, and despite the constraints identified, the benefits of e-mentoring may outweigh the constraints. Organizations considering the adoption of e-mentoring should encourage nurses with positive attitudes and previous mentoring experience to participate in their endeavors. E-mentoring can address today's multigenerational nursing workforce and positively influence the mentoring process.