Abstract
Background
Good mentoring is important for students to support their adjustment to and learning
in the clinical environment. The quality of the mentoring relationship is key for
students but there is a lack of evidence explaining how a good mentor/mentee relationship
establishes and develops over time.
Aim
To explore the developing relationship between mentors and mentees participating in
a structured midwifery mentoring program in one Local Health District in Sydney, Australia.
Methods
A qualitative interpretive descriptive research design was utilised. Data were collected
using 10 focus groups with midwife mentors (n = 31) and seven focus groups and four
interviews with Bachelor of Midwifery student mentees (n = 24), over a 12-month period.
Thematic analysis using an inductive approach was applied incorporating constant comparison
to identify themes and sub-themes.
Findings
Three overarching themes and three sub-themes were identified. The first theme was
‘The great unknown’. Within the second theme ‘Building the relationship’ were three
subthemes: trying to connect; becoming known; and an insider on your side. The final theme ‘the virtuous circle’ described the reciprocal relationship and
benefits that developed between mentor and mentee.
Discussion
The mentor/mentee relationship took time to develop and went through a number of phases.
A positive mentor/ mentee relationship flattened hierarchical differences, increased
student confidence and capacity for learning, and reflected the midwifery continuity
of care relationship between midwife and woman built on respect and partnership.
Conclusion
Developing a successful midwifery mentoring relationship takes persistence, reassurance,
and mutual disclosure ultimately resulting in a recurring cycle of encouragement and
support.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Women and BirthAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- The clinical learning environment in nursing education: a concept analysis.J. Adv. Nurs. 2016; 72: 501-513
- Assessment of nursing students’ competence in clinical practice: a systematic review of reviews.Int. J. Nurs. Stud. 2019; 100
- Midwifery students’: developing an understanding of being ‘with woman’––a qualitative study.Midwifery. 2020; 84102658
- Workplace culture and the practice experience of midwifery students: a meta-synthesis.J. Nurs. Manag. 2018; 26: 302-313
- Nursing and midwifery students’ stress and coping during their undergraduate education programmes: an integrative review.Nurse Educ. Today. 2018; 61: 197-209
- Undertaking midwifery studies: commencing students’ views.Midwifery. 2011; 27: 642-647
- An integrative literature review of student retention in programmes of nursing and midwifery education: why do students stay?.J. Clin. Nurs. 2011; 20: 1372-1382
- Student centredness in clinical learning: the influence of the clinical teacher.J. Adv. Nurs. 2012; 68: 2331-2340
- Becoming a caring nurse – a Nordic study on students’ learning and development in clinical education.Nurse Educ. Pract. 2014; 14: 286-292
- Exploring cognitive skill development in midwifery education.Nurse Educ. Pract. 2012; 12: 264-268
- Midwifery students first encounter with the maternity ward.Nurse Educ. Pract. 2015; 15: 243-248
- Exploring students’ and mentors’ experiences of grading midwifery practice.Evid. Based Midwifery. 2014; 12: 101-106
- The competence of nurse mentors in mentoring students in clinical practice — a cross-sectional study.Nurse Educ. Today. 2018; 71: 78-83
- Clinical supervision in primary health care; experiences of district nurses as clinical supervisors — a qualitative study.BMC Nurs. 2015; 14: 39
- Clinical teaching and learning within a preceptorship model in an acute care hospital in Ireland; a qualitative study.Nurse Educ. Today. 2017; 51: 73-80
- An exploration of the value of the role of the mentor and mentoring in midwifery.Nurse Educ. Today. 2016; 40: 52-56
- Midwives’ perspectives of the challenges in mentoring students: a qualitative survey.Collegian. 2021; 28: 135-142
- “There are guiding hands and there are controlling hands”: student midwives experience of mentorship in the UK.Midwifery. 2011; 27: 477-483
- The analytic challenge in interpretive description.Int. J. Qual. Methods. 2004; 3: 1-11
- Interpretive Description: Qualitative Research for Applied Practice.Taylor & Francis Group, London, United Kingdom2016
- Chatswood N.S.W. Nursing and Midwifery Research: Methods and Appraisal for Evidence-Based Practice. 6th edition. Elsevier Australia a division of Reed International Books Australia Pty Ltd, 2020 (2016)
- Thematic analysis: striving to meet the trustworthiness criteria.Int. J. Qual. Methods. 2017; 16
- Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. fourth edition. SAGE, Thousand Oaks, California2015
- Immersion/crystallisation.in: Crabtree B.F. Miller W.L. Doing Qualitative Research. 2nd ed. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA1999: 179-194
- Naturalistic Inquiry.Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, Calif1985
- Mentoring up: a grounded theory of nurse-to-nurse mentoring.J. Clin. Nurs. 2019; 28: 159-172
- What matters, what is valued and what is important in mentorship through the Appreciative Inquiry process of co-created knowledge.Nurse Educ. Today. 2021; 99104791
- Midwifery Philosophy and Values.2021
- Philosophy and Model of Midwifery Care.2014
- “It’s what midwifery is all about”: Western Australian midwives’ experiences of being’ with woman’ during labour and birth in the known midwife model.BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2019; 19
- “The right help at the right time”: Positive constructions of peer and professional support for breastfeeding.Women Birth. 2017; 30: 389-397
- Midwives being ‘with woman’: an integrative review.Women Birth. 2018; 31: 143-152
- Mentoring Guidelines for Midwives.International Confederation of Midwives, Koninginnegracht2020
- Examining the role of friendship in mentoring relationships between graduate students and faculty advisors.Collect. Essays Learn. Teach. 2016; 9: 111-124
- Mentoring as professional development.Mentor. Tutoring. 2017; 25: 1-4
- Belongingness: a prerequisite for nursing students’ clinical learning.Nurse Educ. Pract. 2008; 8: 103-111
- The need to belong: desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation.Psychol. Bull. 1995; 117: 497-529
- Sustainability and resilience in midwifery: a discussion paper.Midwifery. 2016; 40: 40-48
- Midwives’ experiences of workplace resilience.Midwifery. 2014; 30: 926-934
Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 23, 2021
Accepted:
October 8,
2021
Received in revised form:
September 22,
2021
Received:
July 27,
2021
Identification
Copyright
Crown Copyright © 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Australian College of Midwives. All rights reserved.
