Advancing Nurse Mentors' Development Through a Mentoring Intervention: A Mixed Methods Study

Mentoring in nursing is crucial for supporting newly qualified nurses, enhancing retention and promoting professional development. Despite its significance, limited research has explored nurse mentors' perspectives and their own development through mentoring.

To explore how a structured mentoring intervention influences nurse mentors' clinical teaching behaviour, self-efficacy and experiences of their professional role development.

A convergent mixed-methods study was conducted during a mentorship intervention across healthcare units in hospitals and municipalities in northern Sweden and Norway.

Forty-one experienced registered nurses participated as nurse mentors. Quantitative data were collected via validated instruments on clinical teaching behaviour and self-efficacy before and twice after the intervention. Qualitative data were collected through post-intervention focus group interviews. Quantitative data were analysed using Wilcoxon signed rank test; qualitative data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Findings were triangulated to identify convergence and divergence.

Nurse mentors reported personal and professional growth, especially in relationship-building, mentoring skills and role clarity. Results showed consistently high ratings in clinical teaching behaviour and self-efficacy, with an increase in clinical teaching behaviour scores post-intervention.

Structured mentoring interventions support nurse mentors' development, improving clinical teaching practices and reinforcing their professional identity-key factors in nurse retention.

The findings highlight the need for sustained nurse mentor support and tailored mentorship frameworks to ensure effective, long-term mentoring in nursing.

What problem did the study address? Mentoring is essential for supporting newly qualified nurses, improving retention and fostering their professional development. Most mentorship research focuses on mentees, with limited insight into nurse mentors' perspectives and development. What were the main findings? Nurse mentors experienced development in several areas throughout the intervention, particularly in building relationships, fostering meaningful mentoring skills and refining their role as nurse mentors. Where and on whom will the research have an impact? This study can inform policy and practice by contributing knowledge on the development of sustainable mentoring frameworks. These frameworks support the formation of collaborative and stable work groups in clinical settings, enhancing nurse retention, professional development and the overall quality of patient care.

This study adhered to the Good Reporting of A Mixed Methods Study (GRAMMS) guidelines, by O'cathain et al. as recommended by the EQUATOR network.

No patient or public contribution.