Supporting nurse mentor development: An exploration of developmental constellations in nursing mentorship practice

Supervised practice as a mentor is currently an integral component of nurse mentor education. However, workplace education literature tends to focus on dyadic mentor-student relationships rather than developmental relationships between colleagues. This paper explores the supportive relationships of nurses undertaking a mentorship qualification, using the novel technique of constellation development to determine the nature of workplace support for this group. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three recently qualified nurse mentors. All participants developed a mentorship constellation identifying colleagues significant to their own learning in practice. These significant others were also interviewed alongside practice education, and nurse education leads. Constellations were analysed in relation to network size, breadth, strength of relationships, and attributes of individuals. Findings suggest that dyadic forms of supervisory mentorship may not offer the range of skills and attributes that developing mentors require. Redundancy of mentorship attributes within the constellation (overlapping attributes between members) may counteract problems caused when one mentor attempts to fulfil all mentorship roles. Wider nursing teams are well placed to provide the support and supervision required by mentors in training. Where wider and stronger networks were not available to mentorship students, mentorship learning was at risk.