Research Proposal: Mentoring Student Nurses And Stress Levels Essay.

You are a newly qualified Enrolled Nurse (EN), and you have been asked by a colleague to participate in a research project on mentoring student nurses. Your colleague is interested to learn more about the relationship between mentoring and students’ stress levels during their work placement. Additional areas of enquiry could include student nurses’ experience of learning through mentoring, and barriers to effective mentoring in clinical work placement settings. 

Your colleague has asked you to help her with the project proposal and has given you a guide-sheet to start working on. Answer the questions on the following pages under each heading to begin the proposal process.

Devise a working title for the project based on the outline your colleague gave you.  This could be in the form of a question or a statement.

Type the Research Question or Statement here:

Your colleague needs you to review previous research examining mentoring practices for student nurses, and to write a literature review for the project proposal.  She gives you the names of four primary research articles which you are required to download from the Internet and read.  You must read the full-text article (not just the abstract). You will be able to find these articles freely available using the search engine ‘Google Scholar’.

Write a literature review of the articles above in support of your Own research question.

Once you have chosen your research question/statement and reviewed the literature on your chosen area of investigation, you need to plan how you would design or collect the data for a proposed study (Remember: you are not going to conduct research for this assessment task – this is a theoretical exercise only).

a. Identify what research approach would be best suited to your research question/statement Choose from:

• quantitative
• qualitative

or

• mixed method

b. Identify which research design would be best suited to your research question/statements. Choose one from the following approaches and provide a rationale for why you have chosen that design method. (Reference required)

• Ethnography
• Phenomenology
• Grounded Theory
• Field Research

• Descriptive
• Correlational
• Experimental
• Quasi- experimental

c. Provide a short definition of your chosen research method.

d. Identify which type of data collection method/s you will use (e.g. Questionnaire, interview, focus group). Your chosen data collection method must match with the type of research design you have chosen. 

e. What organisational policies, procedures and protocols need to be considered when planning a research study? 

Complete the following table:

a. Define the term data analysis. 

b. Identify how you would analyse the data in your proposed research project (e.g. statistics, finding patterns, counting, graphs). 

c. List any possible barriers to your proposed research and how would you overcome these? 

d. How would you determine if our research is valid, useful and cost effective? 

e. Identify at least one method of disseminating the research findings. 

f. Which of the following words would be the best synonym (substitute) for reliability?

• Consistency
• Usefulness
• Truthfulness
• Economy

Main Question: How does mentoring impact the ability of nursing students in their mandatory learning and in coping with stresses in a new environment?

Other Questions:

1) What are the barriers to effective mentoring of nursing students?

2) How does the experience and cultural orientation of the student nurses impact their ability to receive quality and effective mentoring from their mentors?

Nurses undergo various occupational stresses in the course of their duties and practical learning. Student and staff relationships play an important role in students’ experiences of belonging and in learning through practice. The need for belonging is pervasive and universal, exerting a powerful effect on emotions, thought processes, health, behavior and happiness. Without a sense of belonging, people get depressed, reduced self esteem, anxiety, and a decrease in their well being. A research conducted using semi structured in depth interviews established that nursing student-staff relationships including inclusion (or exclusion) receptiveness, appreciation challenge, recognition, and support were the influences having the greatest impact on the nursing students learning and sense of belonging (Levett-Jones, Lathlean, Higgins & McMillan, 2009). the results were similar/ uniform between different sites where the studies took place despite differences in the respective systems of higher education and health-care.  

Despite the positive effects that mentoring has on the learning and stress coping abilities for nursing students, there are still barriers to the effectiveness of mentoring, especially for overseas nursing students within the NHS (National health Service) and home care; these barriers are non discriminatory. Some of the barriers include lack of awareness on the effects on cultural differences on learning and mentoring for overseas nurses during periods of their supervised practice before registering in the UK with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. A research involving 13 local, 24 national, and 93 overseas nurses form six research sites including independent sectors and health-care employers within the NHS in different regions showed that overseas nurses face discrimination during their learning because of poor mentoring practices. The research also showed that present programs for preparing mentors are ill equipped to mentor nurses trained overseas from backgrounds that are culturally different and diverse. The research recommended better training for mentors to better equip them to offer effective mentoring to overseas nurses (Allan, 2010), again showing the impact of effective mentoring on nurses in learning and coping with stress as well as enhancing a sense of belonging  

The confidence of nursing students is greatly helped by mentoring; it (mentoring) also helps them cope with the difficulties and challenges associated with their new reality and environment, and also helps increase their self esteem. Mentoring also plays an important role in socializing nursing students into their role as nurses. An exploratory descriptive study designed based on the pre/post test of Rotter’s locus of control and based on the Maslow hierarchy of needs on first year and fourth year nursing students gave confirmatory results. The students were required to communicate with each other and interact, with the fourth year students mentoring the first year students. The mentoring program had positive impacts on the first year students (Bulut, Hisar & Demir, 2010). A phenomenological hermeneutic study method based on Heidegger established that the mentors’ educational use of their self offered useful insights into their (mentors) lived experiences. This exposed the potentially hidden mentoring experience elements that can inform the preparation and support of mentors (Wilson, 2013).

Scenario

a. For the purposes of answering the research question and understanding better the causal effect that the intervention (mentoring) has on the student nurses outconmes, the most suitable reseach method is the moixed method research that will entail the use of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. This research will be undertaken using a mixed method research that involves the collection, analysis, and integration of quantitatitve data from surveys and qualitative research from interviews with focus groups.

The chosen approach for this research using the qualitative method is grounded research approach. Grounded research refers to a systematic research methodology used in social sciences in which a theory is constructed by analyzing data. The grounded theory approach operates inductively and will be chosen for use in this research over phenomenology because grounded theory will aid in developing a theory about a phenomena of interest; in this case the phenomena of interest is nursing students ability to learn and cope with stress in new environments (Charmaz, 2011)

For the qunatitative research, the quasi-experimental method will be chosen; quasi-experimental research approach is an empirical study that is used to to estimate the impact that an intervention causes on the targte population without the use random assignment. For this study, the population is student nurses or those nurses undergoing mandatory training before becoming fully registered nurses and the treatment can not be assigned to the general population. The quasi-experimental research method entails experimentation without randomization. This research methods gives the researcher leeway to control the assigning of treatment (Shadish, Cook & Campbell, 2015)

c. The mixed method research is a research type where the researcher combines elements of quantitative and qualitative methods. This research approach is suitable when using integration to give a better understanding of research problem than using either methods alone. Quantitative data entails information that is close-ended such as those used for measuring attitudes like rating scales, bheavors such as observations and instruments of performance. This data is analyzed using sttsitical methos to analyze scores collected using instruments in order to anwer research questions. Qualitative data refers to open ended information gathered by a researcher through focus groups, interviews, and observations. The gathered data is analyzed by aggregating into information categories to present the diverse ideas collected from data gathering. Mixing both methods provides a researcher with a greater depth and breadth of corroboration and understanding while offseting inherent weaknesses in the individual methods when used alone (Östlund, Kidd, Wengström & Rowa-Dewar, 2011).

d. The data to be collected will be both quantitative and qualitative; quantitative data will be collected from rating the attitudes of the respondents whle qualitative data will be obtained through allowing the rspondents to give detailed responses to open eneded questions. To this end, the most suitable data collection method to be used in this research is the use of an interviewing method that is both on depth and based on open ended interview questions. The questions will be sent to the respondents prior to the interview to enable them understand the topic and invite them to think deeply about what they will say. This will ensure the reiability and validity of the research findings.

1. Develop a research question

e. Before undertaking the research, the research must have the relevant professional skills in conducting research and the research must be planned and condcuted professionally. This will entail documenting the rationale and any modifications to the study while adhering to prescribed ethical standards, legal requirements, safety practices and organizational policies. The GCP (good clinical practice) principles must be followed given that the study will involve human beings. The research must have the relevant governance systems, including in alocating roles and responsibilities. Systems and equipments must be used properly during the process of research. There should be engagement with all stakeholders. The collected data must be managed profesionally, following the GCP principles and their integrity must be maintained. The collected data shold be retained and preserved well following the standards and princpiles of technical data management. Where possible, the researcher must encourage collaboration with relevant stakeholders while undrtaking tjeir research. The applicable codes of professional ethics, conduct, and profesional standars must be observed and maintained, with compliance with legal requirements also a must. The research and proceeds fthe research must not be misused or used for any other intentions other than the purposes of the research. The researh must be conducted with the security, safety, and resilience principles in research observed and practiced. The research finding smust be reported and disseminated according to applicable principles and guidelines, inlcuding ethical peer review. The intellectula property from the research and transaltion of the findings from the research must also follow applicable ethical and professional standards as tsipulated undr the GCP.  

Complete the following table:

a. In te context of research, data analysis is a process that entails the inspection, cleaning, transforming, and modelling collected/ gathered data during research with the aim of discovering insights and useful information and suggesting conclusions; data analysis also aims at providing solutions that support decision making (koch, 2012)

b. The collected data from the interviews will be analyzed through thematic analysis of the findings; the authors will first familiarize with the collected data by reading and then re-reading through them. This will be followed by labelling the entire text (labelling) and then themes that have broader patterns in meaning will then be searched. The identified themes will be reviewed to ensure they fit the data and then  the themes will be deined and named. Finally, a coherent narrative write up will be done with interviewee quoets included will be made (Jason & Glenwick, 2016)

c. The research is likely to be cross cultural, involving peple of diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and religions; this is likely to be a barrier given that the interviewees will be asked questions and asked to respond in depth. Language is also a possible barrier especially for interviewees whose first language is not English. Another barrier would be unwillingness by interviewees to give accurate and in depth responses; some interviewees may not ‘dig deep’ and share their experiences as the research method requires, especially if they have had some form of trauma and/ or stress. Having sufficient time may be a barrier to the effective conduct of this research, especially if the respondents are many and the time is insufficient, or if the respondents are busy (Lopez, Figueroa, Connor & Maliski, 2008)

d. Determining validity requires using a suitable model and having the internal validity of the research determined through assesing the inputs to the model. This is achieved by describing in detail of all data identified as suiting the model, apparising every item, and formally justifying the data. The output modelling is then used to determine the usefulness and cost effectivness of the research by comparing if its modelled estimates to those in real life through the concept of prdictive validity. The usefulness can further be determined by establishing the model’s value to decision makers (McCabe & Dixon, 2006)

e. One effective way of disseminating these research findings is to have them peer reviewed and published in a related research journal where it will reach the targeted persons (Wilson et al.,2010)

f. Truthfulness

References

Allan, H. (2010). Mentoring overseas nurses: Barriers to effective and non-discriminatory mentoring practices. Nursing Ethics, 17(5), 603-613.

Bulut, H., Hisar, F., & Demir, S. G. (November 01, 2010). Evaluation of mentorship programme in nursing education: A pilot study in Turkey. Nurse Education Today, 30, 8, 756-762.

Jason, L., & Glenwick, D. (2016). Handbook of methodological approaches to community-based research: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods. New York : Oxford University Press

Koch, G. S. (2012). Exploration-geochemical Data Analysis with the IBM PC: [Hauptbd.]. New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold. New York, NY Van Nostrand Reinhold

Levett-Jones, T., Lathlean, J., Higgins, I., & McMillan, M. (2009). Staff - student relationships and their impact on nursing students’ belongingness and learning. Journal Of Advanced Nursing, 65(2), 316- 324. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2008.04865.x https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0969733010368747

Lopez, G. I., Figueroa, M., Connor, S. E., & Maliski, S. L. (December 01, 2008). Translation Barriers in Conducting Qualitative Research With Spanish Speakers. Qualitative Health Research, 18, 12, 1729-1737.

McCabe, C., & Dixon, S. (January 01, 2006). Testing the Validity of Cost-Effectiveness Models. Pharmacoeconomics, 17, 5, 501-513.

Östlund, U., Kidd, L., Wengström, Y., & Rowa-Dewar, N. (March 01, 2011). Combining qualitative and quantitative research within mixed method research designs: A methodological review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 48, 3, 369-383.

Shadish, W. R., Cook, T. D., & Campbell, D. T. (2015). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference. Belmont, CA [u.a.: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Wilson, Paul M, Petticrew, Mark, Calnan, Mike W, & Nazareth, Irwin. (2010). Disseminating research findings: what should researchers do? A systematic scoping review of conceptual frameworks. BioMed Central Ltd.

Wilson, A. (2014). Mentoring student nurses and the educational use of self: A hermeneutic phenomenological study. Nurse Education Today, 34(3), 313-318. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2013.06.013