The Nature of Mentoring and its Relationship with Role Socialization for the Academic Nurse Administrator

Problem. Many academic nursing organizations have a great need for leaders who can handle the complex mix of academic administration, health care facilities, and curriculum demands. These administrators are not directly trained to be professional academic nurse administrators. It was the purpose of this study to investigate the nature of mentoring as a vehicle for socializing academic nurse administrators. Method. A survey research methodology was used to study the characteristics of the mentor-protege relationship. The Mentoring Role Socialization Survey was the instrument used for data collection. For the purpose of this study, the instrument was divided into three sections: Professional Information, Mentor-Protege Characteristics, and Role Socialization Functions. Results. The results of the study indicated that academic nurse administrators with mentors reported the relationship as positive, supportive, intellectually stimulating, and encouraged independent growth. There were no significant differences between the nurse and non-nurse mentors on these characteristics. Academic nurse administrators reported receiving more guidance in clinical activities and encouragement to write and publish their ideas by nurse mentors than by non-nurse mentors. The length of the mentoring relationship was significantly related to most of the functions carried out in the mentor-protege relationship. Functions included: providing personal and career counseling, being taught new skills, encouraging decisiveness, writing, and publishing ideas. Academic nurse administrators who did not have a mentor were highly supportive that a mentor would have made a difference in their career progress and would recommend a mentoring relationship for prospective nurse administrators. Conclusion. Based on this study, a mentoring relationship was predominant among the administrators. Suggestions for further research include a longitudinal study, at 3-year intervals, of the academic nurse administrators who participated in this study. Qualitative research should be conducted to reveal the possible mentor characteristics and functions that might relate to the leadership style, administrative effectiveness, and role socialization of future academic nurse administrators