Abstract
Background: Research-focused doctorate nursing programs are expanding and seek to double the number of doctoral-prepared nurses by 2020. There is little empirical evidence of the contributions of mentoring to doctoral nursing students' readiness for their desired careers. Purpose: This study assessed characteristics and practices of nursing PhD students, the mentoring practices of their advisors, and the likelihood of self-reported career readiness. Design: A nationwide descriptive, cross-sectional study of PhD students in the United States was conducted using an electronic survey platform. A sample of 380 PhD students representing 64 schools was surveyed from January to July 2016. Methods: Descriptive statistics and ordered logistic regression were used to describe the sample and determine likelihood of career readiness by three readiness levels. Findings: Results revealed greater likelihood of career readiness for students that: (1) perceived their proficiency in key scholarly skills as high, (2) were older, (3) worked a larger number of hours per week, (4) had more responsibilities outside of school, (5) had both advising and mentoring support, (6) had a co-advisor, and (7) attended a private university. Conclusion: Enrollment targets should be based on a faculty-to-doctoral student ratio that optimizes advising and mentoring and schools should provide mentoring guidelines and training for faculty.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 358-364 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of Professional Nursing |
Volume | 35 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 1 2019 |
Keywords
- Career planning and development
- Career readiness
- Graduate nursing education
- Mentoring
- PhD in nursing
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Nursing