Mentoring programme on research supervision to enhance nurse educators’ research supervision skills
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Background. The major challenge that nurse educators encounter is to teach and supervise research without proper supervision skills. The absence of proper guidelines for research supervision of undergraduates’ research projects leads to confusion among research supervisors and students.
Objectives. To explore the strategies to enhance research supervision skills among nurse educators to develop a mentoring programme for research supervision. The objectives of this study included: (i) identifying nurse educators’ strategies to enhance research supervision; and (ii) developing a mentoring programme on research supervision (MPRS) to enhance nurse educators’ research supervision skills.
Methods. A qualitative, exploratory descriptive research design was used to allow the researchers to collect rich and detailed data that describe the participants’ realities in their own words. Data were collected through focus group discussions from 27 nurse educators who were selected purposively from four nursing campuses across two South African provinces. Computer-aided qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) (NVivo version 12) for thematic analysis was used to analyse data.
Results. The study revealed that assistance in research supervision, elevating research supervisors’ knowledge in research, enhancing research supervisors’ interest, and understanding the role as a supervisor in research were the main findings of the study. The results were used to develop an MPRS, highlighting three main components: access, plan and mentorship in progress.
Conclusion. The results revealed that providing assistance in research supervision through coaching could play a crucial role. An MPRS has been developed and will be piloted at a few institutions. The expected plan will involve targeted implementation, evaluation and refinement based on feedback from these initial sites, thereby ensuring that it meets the needs of nurse educators who supervise nursing research.
Downloads
Article Details
Issue
Section
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The AJHPE is published under an Attribution-Non Commercial International Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY-NC 4.0) License. Under this license, authors agree to make articles available to users, without permission or fees, for any lawful, non-commercial purpose. Users may read, copy, or re-use published content as long as the author and original place of publication are properly cited.
Exceptions to this license model is allowed for UKRI and research funded by organisations requiring that research be published open-access without embargo, under a CC-BY licence. As per the journals archiving policy, authors are permitted to self-archive the author-accepted manuscript (AAM) in a repository.
How to Cite
References
1. Al-Doubi SH, Fawzi H, Walters J. Undergraduate research supervision: A case study of supervisors’ perceptions at Yanbu University College. High Educ Studies 2019;9(4):112-119. https://doi.org/10.5539/hes.v9n4p112
2. Al-Muallem A. Research supervision: Faculty perspective. PhD thesis. Sydney: University of Sydney, 2016. https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/18927 (accessed 13 August 2020).
3. ClearyM,SayersJ,WatsonR.Essentialsofbuildingacareerinnursingresearch.NurseResearcher2016;23(6):8-13.
https://doi.org/10.7748/nr.2016.e1412
4. GroveSK,GrayJR.UnderstandingNursingResearch:BuildinganEvidence-basedPractice.Missouri:Elsevier,2018.
5. Hadi NU, Muhammad B. Role of supervisor in the performance of postgraduate research students. J Res Reflect
Educ 2017;11:178-186.
6. Severinsson E. Rights and responsibilities in research supervision. Nursing Health Sciences 2015;17(2):195-200.
https://doi.org/10.1111/nhs.12160
7. Brew A, Mantai L. Academics’ perceptions of the challenges and barriers to implementing research-based experiences for undergraduates. Teach High Educ 2017;22(5):551-568. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2016 .1273216
8. Roberts LD, Seaman K. Students’ experiences of undergraduate dissertation supervision. Frontiers Educ 2018;3:109. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2018.00109
9. Fowler JL. Academics at work: Mentoring in research, teaching, and service. Int J Acad Develop 2017;22(4):319- 330. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2017.1310105
10. Ashipala MDO, Livingi RM. Undergraduate nursing students’ challenges when writing research proposals at the University of Namibia. Africa J Nursing Midwifery 2021;23(1):1-20. https://doi.org/10.25159/2520-5293/8731
11. Mweemba L, Banja MK, Ndhlovu D, Ilubala-Ziw J, Sachingongu N. Perspectives of University of Zambia trainee teachers on research proposal supervision. Zambia J Educ 2018;5(1):37-51. https://doi.org/10.13140/ RG.2.2.22451.78881
12. Roets L, Bhembe TM. Teaching and supervising research: Challenges of novice educators. Africa J Nursing Midwifery 2016;18(2):211-225. https://doi.org/10.25159/2520-5293/834
13. Seekoe E. The availability of mentoring programmes in higher education and nursing education institutions in South Africa. Afr J Physical Health Educ Recreat Dance 2015;2:111-112. https://doi.org/10.4102/curationis. v37i1.132
14. Polit DF, Beck CT. Nursing Research: Generating and Assessing Evidence for Nursing Practice. 10th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer, 2017.
15. Dhakal K. NVivo. J Med Library Assoc 2022;10(2):270-272. https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2022.1271
16. Braun V, Clarke V. Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide. Auckland, New Zealand: Sage, 2021.
17. Deutscher Bundesverband Coaching. Definition coaching. 2020. https://www.dbvc. de/der-dbvc/definition-
coaching (accessed 28 September 2022).
18. Bozer G, Jones RJ. Understanding the factors that determine workplace coaching effectiveness: A systematic
literature review. Eur J Work Organ Psychol 2018,27(3):342-361. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2018.1446946 19. Agricola BT, van der Schaaf MF, Prins FJ, van Tartwijk J. The development of research supervisors’ pedagogical content knowledge in a lesson study project. Educ Action Res 2022;30(2):261-280. https://doi.org/10.1080/096
50792.2020.1832551
20. Van Schaik P, Volman M, Admiraal W, Schenke W. Barriers and conditions for teachers’ utilisation of academic knowledge. Int J Educ Res 2018;90:50-63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2018.05.003
21. Muraraneza C, Mtshali F, Mthembu SZ. Research supervision: Perceptions of postgraduate nursing students at a higher education institution in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Afr J Health Professions Educ 2016;8(2):135-139. https://doi.org/10.7196/AJHPE.2016.v8i2.294
22. Maher MA, Say BH. Doctoral supervisors as learners and teachers of disciplinary writing. Amsterdam: Brill Publishing, 2016:277-294. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004304338_016
23. Igumbor JO, Bosire EN, Karimi F, et al. Effective supervision of doctoral students in public and population health in Africa: CARTA supervisors’ experiences, challenges and perceived opportunities. Global Public Health 2022;17(4):496-511. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2020.1864752
24. Rostami F, Yousefi MH. Iranian PhD candidates’ perceptions toward their supervisors’ responsibilities and activities. Int J Doctoral Studies 2022:27:227-241. https://doi.org/10.28945/4974
25. Zlatanovic T, Mausethagen S, Leseth A, Hougaard PF. The role of nurse teachers’ academic competencies: A research review. Nordisk Sygeplejeforskning 2018;8(4):260-275. https://doi.org/10.18261/issn.1892-2686- 2018-04-02