Connectedness and Peer Mentoring in a Second Degree Baccalaureate Nursing Program

Background:  In accelerated programs, students are typically overwhelmed by the knowledge and skills that must be mastered in a short period of time.  Research has established that there are numerous benefits inherent in peer mentoring programs, including increased academic success and retention. To that end, a Peer Mentor Program was designed to provide informational and psychosocial guidance to beginning level second-degree BSN students.   This support is provided by Student Peer Mentor Coordinators who are in their last semester of the program and who function under the guidance of a Faculty Coordinator.  The objectives are to: (1) Promote the students’ successful completion of the nursing program. (2) Help students meet the challenges of the program in a healthy manner.  (3) Foster the development of interpersonal and leadership skills.  (4) Create a stronger nursing student community within the SN.

Methods: Fourth level students compete for the role and are placed in charge of 7-8 first-level students.  The Student Peer Mentor Coordinators provide guidance, support, and information on an individual and group basis, both in-person and on-line, a minimum of twice per week. As a group, they conduct four sessions covering topics such as:  adjustment to the role of nursing student, ins and outs of clinical, life-management skills, and more. Kurt Lewin’s Theory of Planned Change serves as the framework for design, implementation and evaluation of the four sessions. 

Evaluation and further study:  Evaluation tools for the Faculty Coordinator, Peer Mentors and Mentees are utilized to provide feedback. First level students consistently report a high degree of satisfaction, support, and guidance as a result of the experience, and also, the wish that their mentors could remain with them for the duration of the program.  Research has indicated that students’ social connectedness directly affects retention and academic performance. Thus, it would be helpful to know if the Peer Mentor Program promotes increased connectedness among nursing students.

Research agenda:  The accelerated BSN program will be expanded to include an additional site.  Since only first level students will be present at the new site, it is not possible to provide mentorship since there are not the necessary fourth level students to do so. This presents a unique opportunity to use this new site as a control and scientifically test the effectiveness of the program in several domains.  The Social Connectedness Scale-Revised, a 20 item, 6 point Likert scale, will be used to determine the mentees perception of their connectedness to the nursing program, university, faculty and peers.  Comparison between the experimental and control group may reveal that a tightly run Peer Mentor program is a major determinant of connectedness and a key factor in the achievement of success and retention among nursing students, especially those enrolled in fast-paced and highly stressful accelerated programs.