Degree Name
Nursing Practice, DNP
Publication Date
12-2-2025
First Advisor
Sandy King
Second Advisor
Beverly Clark
Abstract
Peer mentoring is recognized as an evidence-based strategy that offers support to students and enhances retention. This project aimed to implement a peer mentoring program based on the Nursing Universal Retention and Success (NURS) model. The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) framework and Havelock’s Theory of Planned Change guided the implementation process. The goal was to assess the program's impact on first-semester nursing student retention rates and students’ perceptions of success. First-semester nursing students in a traditional associate-degree nursing program volunteered to participate in the peer mentoring program for one semester. At the end of the semester, an anonymous post-survey was distributed to these students, including Likert-style and open-response questions. Retention data were collected and categorized into two groups: participants and non-participants in the mentoring program. A Chi-square Test of Independence was conducted to examine whether a relationship exists between group membership and retention status, revealing no significant association (χ2(1) = 0.00, p = .948). A descriptive analysis of the Likert-style survey responses showed that the mean score for the Success subscale was near the midpoint, suggesting that participants held mixed or neutral views about the influence of peer mentoring on their success. These findings underscore the need to refine and evaluate the peer mentoring program before it can be broadly translated into nursing education.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Baker, Heather, "Quality Improvement Project Implementation of a Peer Mentoring Program in an Associate-Degree Nursing Program" (2025). Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects. 279.
https://arch.astate.edu/dnp-projects/279
