The structure of mentors' behaviour in clinical nursing education: Confirmatory factor analysis

Chen, Yanhua; Watson, Roger; Hilton, Andrea

Abstract

Aims: To study if a three-factor structure of mentors' behaviour identified through exploratory factor analysis could be confirmed in a dataset assessing mentors' performance using structural equation modelling. Background: To measure mentor's behaviour in clinical nursing education in China, a specific instrument was developed and preliminarily validated; a three-factor structure (professional development, facilitating learning and psychosocial support) was identified in a dataset of assessment of the importance of mentors' each behaviour using exploratory factor analysis and Mokken scale analysis. Design: A cross-sectional study with online and hard copy survey was applied. Methods: Convenience sampling was conducted. Nursing students (n = 634) in Southwest China participated in the study from July to August 2014. Confirmatory factor analysis was used. Results: Mentors' behaviour can be perceived as a secondary order factor with three first order factors: professional development; facilitating learning; and psychosocial support. Conclusion: The three-factor structure of mentors' behaviour was confirmed by structural equation modelling. This structure is visible in mentors' real performance and implies that this instrument could be used to assess mentors' behaviour in addition to students' expectation from mentors.

Citation

Chen, Y., Watson, R., & Hilton, A. (2018). The structure of mentors' behaviour in clinical nursing education: Confirmatory factor analysis. Nurse education today, 68, 192-197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2018.06.018

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 15, 2018
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Jun 20, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 2, 2019
• Print ISSN: 0260-6917
• Electronic ISSN: 1532-2793
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 68
• Pages: 192-197
• Series ISSN: 0260-6197
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2018.06.018
• Keywords: Mentors' behaviour; Professional development; Psychosocial support; Facilitating learning; Nursing
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/881274
• Publisher URL: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/nurse-education-today
• Additional Information: This is the accepted manuscript of an article published in Nurse education today, 2018. The version of record is available at the DOI link in this record.