Bouncing Back: A Peer-to-Peer Mentoring Program Promoting Resiliency Among Entry Level Nursing Students

Transition into a nursing program is considered a stressful and challenging experience for undergraduate students (McDonald, Brown, & Knihnitski, 2018). Evidence supports anxiety and stress is at peak during the first few months of entering the nursing program (Porteous & Machin, 2017). This transition requires students to have the resilience to quickly adjust to a new level of academic rigor, higher expectations, and novel experiences (Thomas & Revell, 2016). Resilience is defined as one’s ability to recover from or adjust easily to change (Merriam-Webster, 2018). In case, the ability of undergraduate students to adjust to the change in demands of a rigorous nursing program. Stephens (2013) offers the following conceptual definition of nursing student resilence, "Individualized process of development that occurs through the use of personal protective factors to successfully navigate perceived stress and adversities. Cumulative successes lead to enhanced coping/adaptive abilities and well-being" (p. 130). Based on Stephens conceptual work students may build resilience through critical examination and reflection of challenges and stressors faced. Through this process, students identify protective processes used during the challenge and examine the effectiveness, or lack of effectiveness, and explore how this protective process may or may not apply in future challenges.

Resiliency is identified as an essential characteristic of nurses, improving nurses' ability to deal with everyday challenges and enhancing the professional quality of life (Ang et al., 2018). Learned resilence has the potential to enhance coping abilities and improve personal well-being. Thus, leading to greater success in school and coping with future challenges faced in personal and professional life. Improved resilience has the potential to improve overall happiness, decrease student attrition, and enhance future professional nurse experience (Stephens, 2013). A recent integrative review of resilience in nursing students identifies peer-to-peer coaching as a viable option to enhance resilience among students (Cleary, Visentin, West, Lopez, & Kornhaber, 2018).

Evidence supports peer mentoring is beneficial to both the mentor and mentee. A study by Hogan, Fox, & Barratt-See (2017) showed, via questionnaire, that peer mentoring was helpful to both mentors and mentees. According to their study results, mentors felt their communications skills and self-confidence had improved significantly (Hogan et al., 2017). Mentees felt that their mentors had been very instrumental in helping them adjust to the clinical setting and transition to the university system (Hogan et al., 2017). Won & Choi (2016) studied the benefits of mentoring on the mentors and found it promoted self-growth and leadership skills. Walker & Verklan (2016) noted the benefit of peer mentoring on reducing anxiety and increasing confidence as they used their new skills in the clinical setting (which reflects the timing of our proposed mentoring program).

Objective: Evaluate the impact of peer-to-peer mentoring on resiliency among transitioning students into a baccalaureate nursing program.

Conceptual/Theoretical framework:

1. The conceptual definition of "Nursing Student Resilience” (Stephens, 2013)
2. Undergraduate Initial Transition Framework (UNIT) will be used to orient and guide mentors (McDonald, Brown, & Knihnitski, 2018).
   • Adjusting to academic life
     • Supporting students who are away from family/friends.
   • Negotiating others ‘expectations
     • Tips to “dealing” with faculty and family/friends’ expectations
   • Negotiating own expectations
     • Helping adapt to nursing education/schedule (referrals)
   • Reframing support
     • Assist in finding new, healthy support
   • Forming identity
     • Reinforce normalcy of feeling changed by situation/knowledge
     • Understand the importance of work/education
   • Splitting focus-finding focus
     • Help in prioritizing and focusing
     • Balance academics and social opportunities

Method: This study is currently seeking Institutional Review Board approval. Alpha Rho, West Virginia University (WVU), School of Nursing (SON) Sigma Chapter is collaborating with WVU SON Student Nurses Association (SNA) to establish mentoring teams and identify mentees. Mentees will be self-selected and a member of SNA. Mentoring teams will be comprised of self-selected senior Alpha Rho members and SNA board appointed junior or senior SNA members. The mentoring pair must maintain good academic standings and embody professional and ethical standings.

Preparation of the mentoring teams will include: attending an initial one-hour meeting orienting mentors, maintaining weekly communication with Alpha Rho leaders and other mentors using discussion board capabilities in a learning management system (LMS), identifying campus resources in the event mentees ask/need referrals, and addressing mentor/mentee professional boundaries. The mentoring partnership will begin week 1 and last through week 16 of the first semester of the sophomore year. Each mentoring team will be assigned 3-5 mentees. Mentors will initially connect with mentees in person and offer occasional face-to-face group meetings throughout their first semester in the nursing program, especially around stressful events. Stressful events may include mid-term, competency, and final exams. Mentor teams will offer professional, weekly (or as needed) contact with mentees via group or individual text, twitter, and email. Group communication is preferred to decrease the burden on the mentor team and promote cohesiveness among the group.

The CD-RISC-10 (Connor & Davidson, 2003) will be used to measure resilience. The CD-RISC-10 has established reliability and validity. All first-semester sophomore nursing students will be encouraged to complete the CD-RISC-10 at the beginning and end of their first semester of sophomore year. The form will be confidential, and only the PI and co-PI will know the identity of the participants. Demographic data will be gathered during the first administration. Gathering data from the entire incoming class will allow comparison between students receiving mentorship and those who did not receive mentorship. Additionally, students participating in the mentorship will receive a program evaluation during the last few weeks of the semester.

Findings: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) will be used to manage and analyze data. Data are categorical. Thus, descriptive statistics will be used to analyze data.

Discussion: Findings of this pilot study may support the use of peer-to-peer mentoring to improve resiliency among entry-level nursing students and build skills to use when transitioning into practice. This improvement of resiliency can support students throughout their educational journey, personal lives, and professional endeavors.