Degree Name

Nursing Practice, DNP

Publication Date

7-30-2024

Upload Date

2024

First Advisor

Linda Latting

Abstract

Nursing school can be rigorous, stressful, and anxiety-producing for students trying to progress to graduation, with students leaving the program if they encounter barriers. Academia must consider strategies to support students; peer mentoring is an evidence-based approach. The project evaluated an existing peer mentoring program to understand the benefits and barriers entry-level sophomore students experience with the program, comparing survey results from 2022 and 2024 cohorts—a mixed-methods descriptive statistical study was conducted with the spring 2024 peer mentoring program. Using a PDSA cycle, the program was transformed from an in-person to a hybrid format. At the end of the program, participants were provided a Qualtrics survey, asking them to rate the program on a Likert scale (1= poor, 2 = fair, 3 = average, 4 = good, and 5 = excellent). The most frequently observed category for 2022 was three (n = 5, 71.43%), and five was the most frequently observed category for 2024 (n = 8, 66.67%). A two-tailed Mann-Whitney test showed significance based on an alpha value of .05, U = 21, z = -1.98, p = .048. The mean rank for 2022 was 7.00, and for 2024 was 11.75, suggesting a statistical difference. Qualitative themes were identified and grouped according to benefits and barriers. The project demonstrated support for peer mentoring as a student success strategy and benefits mentors, mentees, instructors, and academic institutions. The results obtained will help recruit future nursing students into the program, as well as support current students.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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