Nursing Mentors
Researchers
Dr Louise Hunt, Senior Lecturer, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work
Background
New research has revealed that nursing placement mentors are being manipulated and some even subjected to threatening behaviour by nursing students, over responses to feedback about their performance.
Aim of research
This study examines the experiences of nursing mentors from across England, and the responses mentors received from students when informed that they had not met the criteria required to pass their placement assessment.
Nursing students must attend practical placements throughout the duration of their course. Students are allocated a mentor who provides feedback to Universities on the students’ performance, and must assess that students are fit for practice, and have the skills and knowledge in order to become a registered nurse.
The study revealed how some students resorted to using coercive strategies to try and influence their mentor’s decision, with some even going as far as threatening mentors in an attempt to pressurise them into passing them: “We had a student’s boyfriend come and threaten the mentor because they’d said they were going to fail them."
Another research participant spoke about the use of emotional tactics: “The student will either try to be tearful, you know start crying or why, why, why have you got to fail me? And sometimes the student will pile on the pressure.”
Outcomes
The study, published today (Wednesday 14 September) in Nurse Education in Practice, identified four types of coercive student behaviour, whereby students would use various methods to try and put pressure and influence the mentor on their decision:
- Ingratiators – Students who bring themselves into favour by charming, obliging, indulging or emotionally exploiting the mentor.
- Diverters – Students who distract and redirect focus onto factors unconnected to the area of concern.
- Disparagers – Students who counter-challenge mentors in ways perceived as belittling, derogatory or professionally harmful.
- Aggressors – Students who initiate open hostility, making personal threats directly or via a third party, and on occasion carry these out.
Dr Louise Hunt, Senior Lecturer in Adult Nursing at Birmingham City University said:
However Louise recognises that there are techniques which can be put in place in order to assist mentors in recognising and managing coercive students.
The full publication can be accessed at Nurse Education Today.