Relationship of Mentoring By Senior Faculty to Productivity of Junior Faculty in the Top Twenty Colleges of Nursing in the United States.

Abstract

This study examined the relationship of current mentoring by senior faculty to the current productivity of junior faculty in colleges of nursing. One hundred eighty-three nurse faculty from eight of the top twenty schools of nursing responded to a mailed questionnaire. Questions were asked about mentorship status of respondents, the characteristics of mentors and functions carried out with mentees, types of productivity and productivity rate, and institutional support for mentoring and productivity. Measurements for productivity, mentorship and institutional support were the result of factor analysis. Data were analyzed using the t test, Pearson correlation, Chi square, and multiple regression analysis. It was found that mentorship, when role specific modeling/teaching in nature could predict research oriented productivity. Professionally stimulating environments contributed to the ability to predict research activity among junior faculty. Mentoring was found to enhance the productivity of senior faculty who were mentors. Book publishing and Professional service as other measures of productivity could be predicted by institutional and demographic variables of the sample. A major conclusion drawn from this research is that a collaborative model of mentorship can be effective in academia to increase the productivity of both junior and senior faculty. Facilitating such a model of mentorship in academic institutions could help change the "revolving door" appointments for many junior faculty.