Effect of mentoring relationships on professional socialzation of the pre-licensure clinical nurse leader graduate
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Abstract
The professional socialization of a nurse begins during their education experience and continues throughout their career as they acquire new roles and responsibilities. For pre-licensure clinical nurse leader graduates (PLCNLGs), the challenge is to meld the ideals learned during their education experience with the protocols and regulations necessary to practice successfully in their first professional nursing position. While all novice nurses experience difficulty with professional socialization, PLCNLGs have an additional stressor due to the prevailing belief that a Master’s-prepared nurse should be an expert nurse clinician before assuming the title of Clinical Nurse Leader. No matter their educational program, early professional socialization helps all newly licensed nurses, identify with the profession and provide a philosophical foundation with which to build a dynamic career. Mentoring is a low-cost strategy that may help achieve early professional socialization. Mentors provide the necessary support, career lifeline, and professional guidance during the PLCNLG’s transition from student to independent clinician. A positive mentoring relationship creates a trusted partner and confidant who eases the negative feelings associated with this transition process. Nursing research is needed to establish the best mentoring strategy to support the PLCNLG’s professionalism and career trajectory since differences exist in the foundation underlying each mentoring relationship. This study used a mixed methods longitudinal design with two instruments, the Nurses Professional Values Scale-Revised (NPVS-R) and the Nurses Role Conceptions Instrument (NRCI), plus focus groups to examine the impact formal and informal mentoring relationships had on the professional socialization of PLCNLGs. Participants were recruited from the pre-licensure Clinical Nurse Leader program nursing program of a large university located in the southeastern portion of the United States. Phase I data collection took place on campus just before graduation (n=69), nine months later the participants were approached to participate in the Phase II portion of data collection. A final sample of 22 participants completed Phase II with six of them participating in the focus groups. Using a one-way ANOVA, statistically significant differences were not found between the types of mentoring (formal, informal, both, none) and NPVS-R or NRCI bureaucratic and professional role orientation. However, a significant difference was seen with the service role discrepancy and mentoring relationship. Focus group results led to the development of a conceptual model which supports the manner in which mentoring impacted the professional socialization process of PLCNLGs. The integrated quantitative and qualitative results provided evidence that participants were greatly impacted by mentoring relationships. These relationships were established on trust and with people who were willing to help them grow in their nursing role. Participants reported increased confidence, comfort, and competence in their nursing role due to the actions of their mentors. The results of this study added critical knowledge regarding the professional socialization process from the perspective of the PLCNLG. The mixed method integrated approach highlighted how mentoring impacted this socialization process when quantitative analysis did not produce statistically significant results. Nurse executives and leaders should use this research to establish goals for employing mentors and successfully cultivating best practice for pairing mentors and mentees to decrease PLCNLG employment dissatisfaction and turnover.