Coaching and Mentoring - Annotated Bibliography Example

?Introduction I chose the topic of coaching and mentoring, because nursing education does not entirely rely on room education to serve its learning needs. Nursing interns and practitioners altogether need coaching and mentoring that will aid their professional development. Their professional development, in turn, can improve the quality of different health care variables, such as nurse and patient satisfaction. This paper seeks to understand coaching and mentoring theory and practices in nursing by providing an annotated bibliography for eight peer-reviewed articles. The main research question that guided the selection of journal articles is: What are the mentoring and coaching strategies and principles in nursing theory and practice? I used the EBSCO database to search for journal articles. I know that even if I only select “peer reviewed journals” as part of my search limitations, I will still get irrelevant results, so I made sure to read the abstracts in choosing my articles. I also added “nursing” as a filter for “titles,” which limited my search to nursing journals. This approach may have excluded other potential multidisciplinary articles that may still be crucial for my research. Nevertheless, I settled on nursing journals to ensure the relationship between the chosen articles and nursing theory and practice. Finally, I did not limit my search to recent articles, because I wanted to see if other previous articles already conducted a review of literature on coaching and mentoring practices and frameworks in nursing. Annotated Bibliography The first article is “Building the Capacity for Evidence-based Clinical Nursing Leadership” by Alleyne and Jumaa (2007) from the Journal of Nursing Management. Authors aimed to help primary care nurses connect management and leadership theories and clinical practice, through group clinical supervision (GCS) sessions, so that participants can improve their decision-making skills. Participants included six district nurses and two professional doctoral candidates and authors used executive co-coaching as their coaching framework. Executive co-coaching refers to a practical and goal-based approach to teaching. Findings showed that management and leadership theories improved the quality of nursing services to patients and the confidence of participants in performing their daily tasks. Authors concluded that through executive co-coaching, participants were more capable of learning systematically from the past, using evidence-based clinical nursing leadership (EBCNL), and this coaching approach also enhanced leadership development. They recommended for executive co-coaching to be used in enhancing patient services and practitioner skills. The credibility of the journal and writers is rated as 10, because the research design, process, analysis, data, and results were adequately explained and credibility and validity measures were also included in the study. This article is important to the overall review, because it used conventional management and leadership theories to enhance clinical practice. Furthermore, it demonstrated the value of EBCNL in enhancing service quality and professional development. The sampling is too small, because it involved eight participants only. The authors should also have added other data-collection methods to engage the triangulation of research methods and to expand their sampling. A larger sampling can have better generalizability. The findings are applicable to nursing education, because it showed promising results in applying leadership and management theories. The findings indicate that nursing literature and practice should also look into other fields in developing leadership and management skills and concepts. These fields can provide exciting new concepts and tools for enhancing nursing mentorship literature and practice. The second article is “Mentorship in Nursing: A Literature Review” by Andrews and Wallis (1999), from the Journal of Advanced Nursing. Authors studied mentoring literature in nursing practice, especially since studies showed that many nurses provided little time in conducting mentorship in practice. Findings showed that scholars do not agree on the definition of mentoring and the role of the mentor, and while many articles suggested different mentoring approaches and mentoring roles, they did not evaluate these approaches and their effectiveness. Andrews and Wallis (1999) concluded that the studies did not provide enough evidence in linking mentorship and clinical learning, due to lack of empirical research. They recommended the use of “mentoring teams” instead of “supervisory” panels for postgraduate nursing students, and for mentors to receive formal training in mentorship to enhance their capabilities in responding to their students' learning needs. The credibility of the journal and writers is rated as 9, because of the reputation of the journal and the educational background of the authors. Like the article by Alleyne and Jumaa (2007), the research is developed for British context, but it also added American-based studies. This article is important to the review, because it points future research directions, such as testing the relationship between mentoring and clinical practice quality, as well as other nursing skills and capacities. One of the main criticisms of this article is that it did not explain how the selection of articles for review was done. The number of articles reviewed and the exact number of studies selected were also not identified. This makes it harder for readers to understand how the review of literature was conducted and also difficult to assess if enough valid articles were used. Nevertheless, this article is important because it can serve as a starting point for similar reviews of nursing education literature. It also suggests several directions for further research, which can guide nursing researchers and educators in studying nursing mentorship as a theory and strategy in teaching students. The third article is by Block et al. (2005), “The Value of Mentorship Within Nursing Organizations” from the Nursing Forum. They defined nurse mentorship as a relationship between two nurses, where trust and compatibility are important, so that they can reach personal and professional objectives (Block et al., 2005, p.34). They reviewed nursing literature to understand the relationship between mentorship programs and nurse retention, satisfaction, and patient outcomes. Findings showed that mentorship can improve nurse retention, long-term growth of nurses, and patient outcomes. Authors recommended funding for mentorship and leadership programs, acknowledgment for effective nursing mentors, and support for evidence-based practice research that can connect the theory of mentorship and nursing practice. They concluded that mentorship has practical benefits for nurses and nursing organizations and it will benefit health care organizations to institute formal and quality mentorship programs that will assist their nurses' professional growth and satisfaction. The credibility of the journal and writers is rated as 8, because of the validity of the research design and the educational background of the authors. Authors conducted a length review of literature, but not as exhaustive as Andrews and Wallis (1999). This article is important to the review, because it tried to connect mentorship and nurse retention, which some articles did not consider. Block et al. (2005) make a good point that nurse retention and satisfaction can impact patient satisfaction too. Like Andrews and Wallis (1999), this article does not discuss its research design in a more detailed manner. Readers will not easily know how many studies were used and what the criteria was for their selection. This article remains applicable to nursing education, because it does focusing on studies on nursing mentorship. It is also useful to nursing education, because it synthesizes important lessons, such as the value of formal and quality mentorship programs that will assist the nurses' professional growth and satisfaction. It suggests that mentorship is not only beneficial to the learning curve, but also to the notion of workplace satisfaction. The fourth article is “Coaching and Mentoring Nursing Students” by Haidar (2007) from Nursing Management. She used case study research to show why mentors should understand the theories and approaches to mentorship. She employed her own mentoring experience for her article. Findings demonstrated that mentorship benefits mentors, students, and general care; mentoring teams are better than single mentors, because no mentor can effectively serve all the purposes of mentoring; teaching styles must reflect the learning styles of students; mentors can use conventional models to determine and reach goals, such as the Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound (SMART) model; mentors should be aware of the mentee stages of their students; proper communication is critical to mentorship; and mentors should undertake reflection and analysis of feedback. Haidar concluded that it was an advantage for her that her mentee was also a student, which resolves time and resources constraints. She added that mentorship is a lifelong process of learning for both mentors and mentees. The credibility of the journal and writers is rated as 8, because of the reputation of the journal and the background of the author. The author is a lecturer in advanced practice at the London's Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, at King College. This article is vital to my review, because it provides practical applications of theories and techniques. The author also showed that mentorship is a personal process too, where mentees receive emotional support as they transition from novice stage to other stages of skills development. The article shares that it is a case study, but the approach is more anecdotal than empirical. The findings and conclusions were based on personal mentorship experiences and not on any scientifically-designed studies. It is hard to know if the sampling size is good enough to support the validity of the article's findings and it is difficult to ascertain if the “analysis” is valid for applicability to similar cases. Still, it does offer practical tips and insights about nursing. This makes the article useful as a background material for nursing mentorship. It is also applicable to understanding how nurses can improve mentorship programs, which can include using learning from existing mentorship programs to enhance future mentorship strategies. The fifth article is “Developmental Coaching: Bridge to Organizational Success” by Locke (2008) from Creative Nursing. Locke studied the concept of “developmental coaching” and determined its usefulness in linking learning and nursing practice. Findings showed that coaches are “change agents,” promote growth and facilitate changes (Locke, 2008, pp.103-104), and that developmental psychology guides coaching principles. She also compared the coaching process to David Kolb's model of experiential learning, where actual experience impacts thinking and reflection and feedback further changes thinking (p.104). Locke (2008) underscored the importance of developing leaders as coaches, and she provided conditions that entail coaching, such as the novice nurse, the high-potential employee, the manager, and the team. The credibility of the journal and writers is rated as 8, because of the reputation of the journal and author's background and review of important concepts. Ann Locke is a leadership development expert and coauthor of Coaching for Improved Performance. This article is important, because it highlighted the value of existing coaching theory and techniques to nursing-based coaching. She uses a coaching framework that can also be beneficial for nursing practitioners and provides examples, where her framework will be more useful. This article is a conceptual paper, so there is no sampling. As a conceptual paper, the writing is commended for its consideration of different studies and how they can be applied to nursing mentorship. This article is useful to nurse education, because it enriches the concept of developmental coaching. It is applicable to nursing theorization on the different aspects and stages of developmental staging. It is useful in expanding nursing education to intersect with other related management and development studies, as well as psychology. Mentorship, after all, can also be seen as a psychological process of training nurses to “become” nurses in mind, body, and heart, in my opinion. The sixth article is “Mentorship in Contemporary Practice: The Experiences of Nursing Students and Practice Mentors,” by Myall, Levett-Jones, and Lathlean (2008), from the Journal of Clinical Nursing. Authors examined the purpose of mentorship in nursing practice using British and Australian case studies. This article is based on two other previous studies that investigated the impact of locality-based nursing education on students, mentors and academic staff and determined the perceptions of nursing students and mentors on mentorship experiences. This is a qualitative-quantitative research design, with a two-phase data collection processes. Findings showed that mentorship is critical to pre-service nurses and that mentors need formal training themselves. Students also felt the connection between the quality of mentoring and their attachment to their clinical areas. Authors concluded that there is a need to bridge the gap between mentoring theory and practice of mentoring and to foster greater implementation of national standards that will delineate the roles and responsibilities of the mentor. These standards will also be useful for nursing students in other countries that follow similar mentorship programs. The sampling is larger compared to case study sampling, because the first phase included 161 participants and the second phase involved 156 participants. Still, the number is not enough to be applied to larger populations, especially when the response rate is low for this online-survey research method. This article is applicable to nursing education, because it suggests avenues of cross-cultural applications. In addition, it is useful to nursing education, because it indicates the significance of mentoring to pre-service nurses' job satisfaction and retention. The credibility of the journal and writers is rated as 10, because of the reputation of the journal and the educational backgrounds of the authors, who happened to be nursing educators. This article is important, because it confirms findings that mentorship improves personal satisfaction within the nursing profession too. An effective mentoring serves as both orientation and inspiration for preservice nurses and it can also can improve how they see their profession. The seventh article is “Wise Women: Mentoring as Relational learning in Perinatal Nursing Practice,” by Ryan, Goldberg, and Evans (2010), from the Journal of Clinical Nursing. This is a contextual study involving five Canadian nurses. Data collection involved phenomenological interviews, observations in the clinical setting and journals. The feminist perspective guided the research framework. Authors defined relational learning as the engagement of nurses with each other and their patients (p.183). Findings showed that relational learning is about engaging and connecting with other nurses and patients; learning occurs through modeling other nurses; “embodied interactions” (p.188) shape how nurses view their roles and functions; and positive mentorship entails sharing passions and feelings. Authors concluded that mentoring results to experiential learning for prenatal novice nurses. Mentorship allows novice nurses to transition to experts by modeling their mentors and growing in a supportive environment. The credibility of the journal and writers is rated as 10, because of the reputation of the journal and the educational background of the authors. They are educators and have also conducted the research with respect to systematic procedures and analysis. Their study also used triangulation, which enhances the validity of their findings. This article is important to my review, because it showed the mentorship theory from a feminist perspective and this is helpful framework for the perinatal setting. The article also underlines the value of interconnectedness between mentors and mentees, a sign once more of the intimacy of the mentorship relationship. The sampling is quite small with only five nurses as participants. Nonetheless, the article is applicable to nursing, because a gender-based phenomenological study does present a novel way of looking into nursing mentorship. It is also useful in analyzing what these experiences mean to nurses and how they impact nursing perceptions about their jobs and mentoring. Other qualitative research can enhance how nursing mentorship can be further conceptualized and appreciated. The eight article is “Mentorship: Perceptions and Pitfalls for Nursing Practice,” by Woodrow (1994) from the Journal of Advanced Nursing. She examined perceptions and future uses of mentorship. The author used literature review and personal experiences to support her conclusions and findings. Findings showed that mentorship involves partnership between mentors and mentees and learning contracts; individual attributes of mentors and mentees can impact the effectiveness of mentorship; scholars do not agree on whether the assessor and mentor roles should be separated or combined, and how nursing capacities can be best assessed; mentees should have diverse choices for mentors; mentors must be prepared for the varied roles they will undertake; and there must be further studies on the benefits of mentorship for different stakeholders. Woodrow (1994) concluded that the language of mentorship remains muddled and confusing and that there is a need for clearer guidelines for mentorship. She emphasized the importance of compatibility in effective mentorship relationships. The credibility of the journal and writers is rated as 9, because of the reputation of the journal and the educational background of the author. The author used different studies to generate her conclusions and to understand nursing practice of mentorship. This article is important to my research, because it shows that more than a decade later, mentorship is still an under-conceptualized process in nursing, because of lack of empirical studies that define and measure its impacts and poor connection between mentoring theories and practice. Like other review of literatures used in this study, this article fails to explain its data-collection methodology further. As a result, it is hard to determine how the articles were selected and if they are valid choices. This article remains useful to nursing education, because it mentions several points not discussed in other articles, such as the importance of having choices for students. This article is also applicable to nursing education, because it provides general understanding on the weaknesses and strengths of nursing mentorship from an educator's viewpoint. Conclusion Almost all studies are based on literature reviews. There is an evident need for future empirical studies that will test nursing theories on mentorship and coaching and their relationship with nursing capacities, satisfaction, and retention, as well as patient outcomes. These studies should be longitudinal also and assess long-term benefits, or lack thereof, of nursing mentorship. The studies should involve larger samples and compare cross-cultural samples to understand nursing mentorship at the international level. Nursing scholars should also further enhance the theory of coaching and mentorship and provide clearer definitions on mentorship and coaching, as well as standards in measuring their effectiveness. References Alleyne, J. & Jumaa, M.O. (2007). Building the capacity for evidence-based clinical nursing leadership: The role of executive co-coaching and group clinical supervision for quality patient services. Journal of Nursing Management, 15 (2), 230-243. Andrews, M. & Wallis, M. (1999). Mentorship in nursing: A literature review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 29 (1), 201-207. Block, L.M., Claffey, C., Korow, M.K.., & McCaffrey, R. (2005). The value of mentorship within nursing organizations. Nursing Forum, 40 (4), 34-140. Haidar, E. (2007). Coaching and mentoring nursing students. Nursing Management, 14 (8), 32-35. Locke, A. (2008). Developmental coaching: Bridge to organizational success. Creative Nursing, 14 (3), 102-110. Myall, M., Levett-Jones, T., & Lathlean, J. (2008). Mentorship in contemporary practice: The experiences of nursing students and practice mentors. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 17 (14), 1834-1842. Ryan, A., Goldberg, L., & Evans, J. (2010). Wise women: Mentoring as relational learning in perinatal nursing practice. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 19 (1/2), 183-191. Woodrow, P. (1994). Mentorship: Perceptions and pitfalls for nursing practice. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 19 (4), 812-818. Read More