Newly Qualified Nurses’ Early Experiences of Working as Unqualified Mentors

Abstract

Although a wealth of research examines varying facets of mentorship within nursing, to date, the voices and perspectives of newly qualified nurses working as mentors without formal preparation have largely been excluded from the literature. This research stems from three exploratory studies undertaken as part-fulfilment for this EdD. These preliminary studies identified the questions that, to date, have not been answered in the literature. This initial work provided impetus for the focus of this dissertation and ultimately led to the conceptual framework laying the foundation for the aims and research questions. The research questions asked were how newly qualified nurses are prepared for mentorship; how they acquire knowledge and skills for mentorship in the reality of practice; how they transition into the mentor role whilst still novice staff nurses; and, finally, how they identify as mentors. This study presents a qualitative, constructivist interpretation of newly qualified nurses’ early experiences of working as unqualified mentors. Using the principles of Smith et al.’s (2013) Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) framework, a qualitative hermeneutic approach guided the research process and the analysis of transcribed interview-texts. Four superordinate themes emerged from the data. These were: 1) Proactive Strategies in Becoming Prepared, where participants took a pragmatic, hands-on approach to mentoring, took an active personal involvement with reflection on past experiences of being mentored, and sought ways to find emotional support; 2) Experiential Learning, where participants engaged in active learning and learnt from their peers and through trial and error and the use of intuition; 3) Development of Resilience in Transition, where participants learnt to cope with transitional shock, but experienced being in a liminal phase during their transition; and 4) Attaining Professional Identity, where participants sought the approval of others as professional mentors to attain professional identity. Having a sense of belongingness to a professional group provided participants with the professional identity they strived for to be valued as part of the mentorship team. This study challenges and contributes to the existing body of knowledge and professional practice in four ways. Firstly, the findings narrow an existing gap in the mentorship literature and advances understanding of the experiences of newly qualified nurses who support students in everyday practice. Secondly, the findings contribute to the existing concepts of preparedness, professional identity, transition, and ways of learning in the context of mentorship. Thirdly, although there is a plethora of studies around mentorship, this is the first study to explore newly qualified nurses’ experiences of working as unqualified mentors before undergoing formal preparation. Finally, this study will help inform educators and policy makers and enable them to enhance further the preparation of nurses for the new role of practice supervisor.