The association of mentorships and leadership practices with nursing faculty retention

The lack of mentored relationships among nursing educators has the potential to negatively influence perceptions of leadership practices and could decrease the numbers of nursing faculty staying in academia. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of mentorships and leadership practices of nursing faculty teaching in academia. Watson\u27s caring theory was the theoretical foundation to explain the congruence between mentored relationships, leadership practices, and the association with faculty retention. The first research question focused on differences between mentoring experience, assistance, and characteristics by mentor training type. Question two assessed the relationship between leadership practices by mentor training type. In this cross sectional, research design, a nonrandomized convenience sampling method was used to select 65 masters or doctoral level nursing faculty from one Midwestern state in the United States. The z test statistic measured the perceptions of mentoring experience, assistance, and characteristics by mentor training type; results indicated no significant differences in the perceptions of mentoring experience, assistance, and characteristics by training type. The ANOVA measured the perceptions of leadership practices by mentor training type. Results showed that nursing faculty who reported no mentor scored significantly lower on the perception of leadership practices when compared with nursing faculty who had formal mentor training. Recommendations for action include an exploration of barriers to mentorships and the perceptions of leadership practices within the workplace setting. This study contributes to positive social change by encouraging administrative personal and nursing leaders to focus on developing and maintaining healthy working relationships to potentially offset the nursing faculty shortage