DESCRIPTION OF MENTORING PROGRAMS IN ASSOCIATE DEGREE REGISTERED NURSE PROGRAMS IN TEXAS.
Contributors: University of Houston.
Published: 1995
Number of pages: 87
Subjects: Education, Community College.; Health Sciences, Education.; Education, Adult and Continuing.; Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The purpose of the study was to describe the nursing faculty orientation and/or mentoring programs that presently exist in associate degree registered nurse programs in Texas. The responses of surveyed participants were used to describe how orientation and mentoring of new nursing faculty in general is carried out in community college settings.

For purposes of this research, orientation was defined as the initial period of introduction to the role of a nursing faculty position. The definition included a familiarization with the responsibilities of the position and an awareness of the facilities. Even though mentoring and orientation begin at the same time, mentoring was defined as the process that continues after the brief orientation period ends. The definition of mentoring included the continued support, the explanations from, as well as the discussions with a more experienced nursing faculty member regarding the role and functions of a new nursing faculty member.

The research question was: What types of orientation/mentoring programs currently exist in associate degree programs in Texas?.

This study was both descriptive and exploratory. This research method enabled the researcher to select a sample from the population to discover the relative incidence and distribution of the variables. The participants in this study were deans or directors of associate degree registered nurse programs located in Texas.

The data collected were analyzed using appropriate descriptive statistical procedures. The results were summarized in tabular form.

The survey indicated that twenty-three (63.89 per cent) of the institutions provided a formal orientation for new nursing faculty and thirteen (36.11 per cent) did not provide any formal orientation. The orientation/mentoring programs ranged from a very simple guide to a very sophisticated program that required the input from several persons involved in the management of the nursing program. One common factor noted was that each program gave an introduction and an overview of the expectations for the new faculty member. Most of the programs were based on the needs of the newly employed individual faculty member.

This researcher discovered that of the thirty-six associate degree registered nurse programs studied, twenty-three had orientation/mentoring programs in place. They ranged from very simple to very sophisticated programs. There were common features in all of them such as the introduction to the program and the overview of the role expectations. These features could be condensed in the development of a systematic model for orienting/mentoring new registered nurse faculty in Texas. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-05, Section: A, page: 1635.

Thesis (ED.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON, 1995.

School code: 0087.