Characteristics of faculty mentoring in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Future of Nursing Scholars Program

To address the need for faculty scientists, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) provided support for an accelerated PhD program: Future of Nursing Scholars (FNS).

To describe the experience of faculty mentoring PhD students in the RWJF FNS program pursuing a 3-year accelerated PhD degree, including faculty members' support activities for students, time commitment, student productivity in manuscript dissemination, and challenges and opportunities for supporting students.

Surveys were sent to faculty mentors of FNS to understand mentoring activities, strategies used, and mentee productivity.

Of 93 faculty mentors, they reported most FNS students (n = 61, 65.6%) completed a manuscript format dissertation. FNS students required academic/dissertation mentoring, with frequent emotional support and positive reinforcement.

Mentors reported providing more frequent mentoring and spent more time mentoring FNS students than with other PhD students. Alignment of the student's research to that of the faculty mentor was identified as valuable.