Pediatric nursing students’ self-efficacy regarding medication administration and clinical comfort and worry: A pre-posttest comparative study of nurse mentoring versus peer mentoring

Abstract

AimThis study aimed to examine the effect of mentoring practice by graduate nursing students and clinical nurses on students’ self-efficacy in pediatric medication administration, clinical comfort and worry levels of students taking pediatric nursing courses. BackgroundChildren are a highly sensitive group against medication administration errors. Improving the self-efficacy of student nurses who will work with this group toward medication administration is essential. Mentoring programs can increase students’ skills and self-efficacy by reducing their stress levels during clinical practice. DesignThe research is a two-group pretest-posttest randomized controlled experimental research design. SettingsThe study was conducted in the pediatric units of a training and research hospital located in the Western Black Sea region of Turkey between October 1, 2022 and December 30, 2022, as part of the clinical practice of the Pediatric Nursing course in the fall semester of 2022–2023. ParticipantsThe study sample consisted of 143 students (peer mentoring group=73, nurse mentoring group=70) who were 3rd-year students taking the pediatric nursing course. MethodsParticipant information form, Medication Administration Self-Efficacy Scale in Children for Nursing Students (MASSCNS) and Pediatric Nursing Students Clinical Comfort and Worry Tool (PNSCCWT) were administered to the students before the clinical practice. Then, the groups received mentoring practice in the clinical practice area for 14 weeks. At the end of the practice, MASSCNS and PNSCCWT were administered to the students again. ResultsThe groups were homogeneously distributed when compared according to descriptive characteristics (p > 0.05). The self-efficacy scores of the students in both groups after clinical practice were significantly different from those before clinical practice (tnurse=-4.724, pnurse=0.000 <0.05; tpeer=−3.742, ppeer=0.001 <0.05). ConclusionsThis study’s results indicate that nurse mentoring and peer mentoring effectively increase nursing students’ self-efficacy during pediatric clinical practice. While nurse mentors decreased students’ worry, peer mentors increased students’ clinical comfort levels.