A correlational study on the relationship between peer mentoring support and novice nurse intent to stay in the field

Newly graduated nurses encounter considerable difficulty when making the transition from the status of student to that of licensed professional. A significant number of newly graduated registered nurses (RNs), or novice nurses, drop out of the field of nursing within one to two years of graduation. Even novice nurses engaged in robust transition programs experience high turnover intent. This study examined the relationship between peer mentoring support and novice nurses intent to stay in the field. It was hypothesized that peer mentoring support might prove an effective nurse retention strategy. A quantitative correlational design was used and data was collected from a sample of 131 novice nurses. Four hypotheses derived from Benner's theory of Developmental Stages of Clinical Competence and Duchscher's Stages of Transition were empirically tested. Price and Mueller's Intent to Stay and the Mentoring Effectiveness scales were used. Regression and Moderated Multiple Regression analyses tested the hypotheses, and results indicated that a significant relationship did not exist between the criterion and predictor variables, p = .056. Even though the relationship between the criterion and predictor variables was not significant, there is prevalence of mentoring in nursing. The relationship between the criterion and predictor variables in hypotheses 3-4 were not significantly moderated by ethnicity, p = .90; education, p = .473; and career status, p = .738. The null hypotheses were retained. Based on the effect size of 0.4, and according to the standards for the social science, an effect size of 0.4 is meaningful (Cohen, 1988). Findings from this study suggested that adding a mentoring program such as peer mentoring support may enhance novice nurses transition; and since prior career path was not a significant factor, the benefits of mentoring seem to cross education levels. This study provides relevant information that supports the assumptions that peer mentoring support is an effective method that may be used to mitigate the likelihood of nurses quitting the profession. The findings suggest that mentoring programs may help retain new nurses despite their career experience. Perhaps uniqueness of nursing, complexity, and importance of tasks require greater emphasis on long-term mentoring programs.