Digital peer mentoring in higher education: Results from a qualitative study involving digital part-time nursing...

Peer mentoring in nursing education is essential for supporting students' learning and development processes and reducing university withdrawal rates. Digital mentoring represents a contemporary approach to organising nursing mentoring processes, previously recognised as a practical component in facilitating clinical assessment.

This study aims to qualitatively examine the impact of digital peer mentoring on nursing students and to review the experiences of their mentors with online mentoring in a part-time nursing program.

A qualitative study employing in-depth, paired interviews and supplementary questionnaires.

Data were collected from eight students enrolled in a four-year part-time Bachelor of Nursing program at a university in Norway from 2022 to 2023.

Thematic analysis was conducted following the methodology described by Braun and Clarke.

The experiences of students and their mentors were categorised into three themes: 'Differences in Motivation,' 'No Need for Digital Socialising,' and 'The Importance of Clarifying Organisational Tasks.'

Digital mentoring proved challenging to sustain for part-time digital nursing students. The study indicates that effective learning through digital mentoring necessitates stringent organisation, such as clear guidelines from the institution or consistent support from educators. Therefore, enhancing digital mentoring among part-time nursing students requires additional facilitation.