Abstract
Newly licensed nurses require professional confidence to deliver quality patient care within today’s complex healthcare settings. While nursing programs provide a foundational knowledge base, many newly graduated nurses report challenges in clinical judgment and translating learned knowledge into practice, contributing to a lack of professional confidence. Extended mentorship during the transition to practice may offer a solution to address this gap.
This study aimed to measure the impact of mentorship on the confidence levels of newly graduated Registered Nurses (RNs) during their first six months of practice. A cohort of nine newly licensed RNs completed a standard twelve-week orientation program. Following this, participants were divided into two groups: one group worked autonomously, while the other group was paired with a mentor for an additional three months. Confidence levels were measured monthly using the Casey-Fink Graduate Nurse Experience Survey.
Baseline confidence levels were similar between the groups (mean = 2.905, SD = 0.05). Confidence was observed to decrease in both groups by the fourth month of practice, highlighting a critical period of adjustment. By the fifth and sixth months, the mentored group demonstrated significantly higher confidence levels, with a mean score of 3.48 (SD = 0.21) compared to 2.49 (SD = 0.15) in the autonomous group.
These findings emphasize the importance of mentorship in fostering professional confidence among newly graduated nurses. Post-interventional discussions also suggested that night shift assignments early in the transition period may further support confidence development. The study highlights mentorship as a valuable strategy to ease the transition into professional practice, improve retention, and enhance clinical competence among new nurses.
Notes
Reference list attached as separate document file.
Sigma Membership
Chi Mu
Type
Poster
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Descriptive/Correlational
Research Approach
Quantitative Research
Keywords:
Competence, Transition to Practice or Onboarding, Mentoring and Coaching, Clinical Practice, Workplace Culture, New Graduate Nurses, Novice Nurses, Newly Licensed Nurses, Confidence, Clinical Competence
Recommended Citation
Matthews, Margaret, "Comparing the Impact of Mentorship on Confidence Among Newly Graduated Registered Nurses" (2025). Biennial Convention (CONV). 45.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/convention/2025/posters_2025/45
Conference Name
48th Biennial Convention
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Conference Year
2025
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2025-12-02
Comparing the Impact of Mentorship on Confidence Among Newly Graduated Registered Nurses
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Newly licensed nurses require professional confidence to deliver quality patient care within today’s complex healthcare settings. While nursing programs provide a foundational knowledge base, many newly graduated nurses report challenges in clinical judgment and translating learned knowledge into practice, contributing to a lack of professional confidence. Extended mentorship during the transition to practice may offer a solution to address this gap.
This study aimed to measure the impact of mentorship on the confidence levels of newly graduated Registered Nurses (RNs) during their first six months of practice. A cohort of nine newly licensed RNs completed a standard twelve-week orientation program. Following this, participants were divided into two groups: one group worked autonomously, while the other group was paired with a mentor for an additional three months. Confidence levels were measured monthly using the Casey-Fink Graduate Nurse Experience Survey.
Baseline confidence levels were similar between the groups (mean = 2.905, SD = 0.05). Confidence was observed to decrease in both groups by the fourth month of practice, highlighting a critical period of adjustment. By the fifth and sixth months, the mentored group demonstrated significantly higher confidence levels, with a mean score of 3.48 (SD = 0.21) compared to 2.49 (SD = 0.15) in the autonomous group.
These findings emphasize the importance of mentorship in fostering professional confidence among newly graduated nurses. Post-interventional discussions also suggested that night shift assignments early in the transition period may further support confidence development. The study highlights mentorship as a valuable strategy to ease the transition into professional practice, improve retention, and enhance clinical competence among new nurses.
Description
This presentation explores the impact of extended mentorship on confidence among newly graduated nurses during their transition to practice. Results reveal significantly higher confidence in mentored nurses, underscoring mentorship as a key strategy for improving clinical competence and retention in nursing.