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Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive study was to obtain information relevent to the characteristics of mentoring activity and mentoring help received by nurse administrators. The research questions were: (1) To what extent do nurse administrators report the incidence of mentors in their lives? (2) Are there significant differences in selected background characteristics between subjects who are mentored and those who are not? (3) What are the characteristics of the mentor, the protege, and the mentor-protege relationship (MPR) as perceived by nurse administrators who were proteges? (4) What is the type of mentoring help received by subjects who had mentors? (5) To what extent have subjects been mentors to others? Data were obtained using a mailed self report survey questionnaire. The sample consisted of 176 top administrators belonging to the Nurse Administrator's Association of B.C. There were 119 usable questionnaires (68%). The data were analysed using frequency distributions, factor analysis, descriptive and Chi square statistics. The data analysis provided a profile of selected background characteristics of the nurse administrators, the most influential mentor, the protege, MPR, and mentoring help received. Using an explicit definition of a mentor, 71 percent of the respondents indicated they had one or more mentors. Turning to statistically significant differences (p