UC Davis

Background

As the retirement rate of senior nursing faculty increases, the need to implement new models for providing mentorship to early career academics will become key to developing and maintaining an experienced faculty.

Purpose

This evaluation of a peer mentorship program for predoctoral and postdoctoral gerontological nurses examined its efficacy, utility, and potential for improvement.

Methods

A web-based survey was developed, implemented, and completed by 22 mentees and 17 mentors (71% and 61% response rates, respectively) as part of the evaluation.

Discussion

The peer mentorship program was found to be valuable by both mentors (64.7%) and mentees (72.7%) in helping mentees further develop their careers and networks and providing mentors with supported mentorship experience.

Conclusion

The peer mentorship program could serve as a model for other professional organizations, academic institutions, and consortiums to enhance and extend the formal vertical mentorship provided to early academic career individuals.