Capacity building in nurse educators in a Global Leadership Mentoring Community

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Global Health Workforce Development
• Academic Leadership

Background:

• Nurse educators globally engage in teaching, scholarship, and service.
• International collaboration is increasingly vital for advancing nursing education and global health.
• Existing mentoring models may not fully address the complexities of international virtual programs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of a one-year virtual mentoring program on nurse educator capacities.
• To identify factors influencing international virtual mentoring relationships.
• To explore the development of nurse educators within academic and scholarly contexts.

Main Methods:

• A one-year virtual mentoring program involving 12 mentor-mentee pairs from diverse global locations and career stages.
• Utilized Sigma Theta Tau International's Global Leadership Mentoring Community platform.
• Qualitative assessment of mentee-reported capacity building and influencing factors.

Main Results:

• Mentees reported enhanced capacities in their nurse educator roles.
• Key influencing factors included language, time differences, technology, and relationship dynamics.
• Professional growth occurred within the academic culture and Boyer's scholarship definitions.

Conclusions:

• International virtual mentoring can effectively build nurse educator capacities.
• Addressing logistical and relational factors is crucial for successful global mentoring programs.
• Nurse educators play a critical role in preparing a competent global nursing workforce.