Mentoring in Nursing and Healthcare: Supporting Career and Personal Development

Mentoring in Nursing and Healthcare: Supporting career and personal development is an innovative look into mentoring within nursing, and its implications for career success. It provides an up–to–date review of the current research and literature within mentoring in nursing and healthcare, drawing together the distinctive challenges facing nurses and their career development. It proposes new directions and practical ways forward for the future development of formal mentoring programmes in nursing.

Offering fresh insight into mentoring principles and how these can be used beyond pre–registration nurse education to support personal career development. This is an essential book for all those commencing, continuing or returning to a nursing career.

Key features:

Addresses mentoring as a career development tool Focuses on the individual benefits of being a mentee and mentor and how this can aid professional development Both theoretical and practical material is presented Supports nurses to develop their careers It is sector specific but has transferability across disciplines A summary chapter draws together common threads or theoretical perspectives. The book concludes with strategies for future research and progress

Notes on Authors

Preface

1 Gendered Career development within nursing and healthcare

Education

The labour market

Gendered careers

The person–centred approach

The organisational structure perspective

Gender differences in models of career advancement

Gender differences in the career progression of nurses and healthcare professionals

Summary

References

2 Mentoring as a career development tool

Defining mentoring

Functions of mentoring

Mentoring phases

Competencies of mentors and mentees

Informal vs. formal mentoring

Alternative forms of mentoring

Does mentoring really work?

Drawbacks to mentoring

Summary

References

3 Diversity in Mentoring: gender, race and ethnicity

The case for diversity

Diversity in the NHS

Gender and mentoring

Barriers for women to acquire a mentor

Cross–gender mentoring relationships

The role of gender in formal and informal mentoring relationships

The role of race and ethnicity in mentoring relationships

The impact of mentoring relationships for white and BAME women

Summary

References

4 Mentoring in Nursing and Healthcare

Culture of nursing

Perceptions of nursing

Mentoring in the NHS

Mentoring in nursing

The value of mentoring throughout a developing career

Mentoring across the NHS

Summary

References

5 The Design and Implementation of a Formal Mentoring Programme

Definition of mentoring applied to the Challenging Perceptions programme

Objectives of the programme

Recruitment of NHS mental health Trusts

Recruitment of participants and control group

Recruitment of mentors

The matching process (mentees selection of mentors)

The seven main elements of the Challenging Perceptions programme

Summary

References

6 Evaluating formal mentoring relationships

Evaluation in practice

Data collection

Qualitative data collection

Quantitative data collection

Ethical considerations

Data analysis

Summary

References

7 Does Mentoring Work? The Realities of mentoring from the Perspective of both mentor and mentee

Career development outcomes

Breaking the glass ceiling

Personal development outcomes

The mentoring relationship

Benefits for mentors

Summary

References

8 The long term benefits of mentoring

Formal mentoring programmes

Mentee case studies

The Challenging Perceptions programme

Key lessons

Evaluation limitations

Future programme development

Summary

References

Afterword

Index