Connecting: perceptions of becoming a faculty mentor.

The school of nursing faculty at a liberal arts university created an innovative group-mentoring course to support students' progression through the undergraduate nursing program. The foundation of the mentoring program is the dynamic relationship between novice and expert. Students are enrolled in this one-hour course for each of their four semesters in the upper division nursing curriculum. Group membership (faculty and students) is consistent throughout this time. The mentoring course requires faculty to lead a process-oriented group. Faculty are confident in teaching courses that are content-driven but have struggled with the unstructured nature of facilitating a process-oriented group. Therefore, the role of group mentor has been identified by faculty as very challenging.The purpose of this study was to explore faculty members' perceptions of assuming the role of a group mentor. Eight subjects participated in audio-taped interviews guided by open-ended questions. Four themes emerged including uncertainty, evolution, mutuality, and milieu.

Group mentoring: a story of transition for undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students.

BACKGROUND: Group mentoring has been endorsed as an effective method of supporting novice professionals across disciplines. In one university, faculty revised the undergraduate nursing curriculum to include a group mentoring course as a requirement of students during the four semesters they are enrolled in the nursing program. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experience of undergraduate nursing students participating in a group mentoring course. DESIGN: This study used a hermeneutic interpretive phenomenological method. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Data were collected from 22 undergraduate nursing students enrolled in group mentoring courses at a private Midwestern university in the United States. METHODS: At the end of each semester of mentoring, students provided written responses to five open-ended questions about their experiences of participating in the mentoring courses. RESULTS: Four themes emerged: conversation, communication, connection, and cohesion. CONCLUSION: Group mentoring was an effective way to support nursing students as they transitioned from undergraduate student to novice professional nurse.