Collaboration for Innovation in Mentoring Scale (CLIM Scale): An Instrument to measure PhD Mentorship Quality

OVERVIEW

New instrument evaluates PhD nursing student mentorship for improved success.

•  Captures all vital mentorship aspects, enhancing comprehension of effectiveness
• Applications: Inform mentor strategy, guide program improvement, and boost student success

BACKGROUND

The importance of mentorship in nursing PhD programs is well-recognized, attributed to its role in facilitating education and research skill development, scholarly socialization, and career readiness. Historical approaches to mentorship were predominantly qualitative and generalized, lacking in specific measurement tools tailored to the nursing discipline. These approaches struggled to address the nuances of effective mentorship, particularly the diverse needs of students and varied mentor expertise. Furthermore, conceptual disagreements over the definition and scope of mentorship have hindered efforts to systematize and improve mentorship quality consistently. Instruments designed for general graduate mentorship do not adequately assess the specific needs of PhD nursing students. This gap signifies the need for a comprehensive, specific, and reliable tool that can capture the dynamic and multi-faceted nature of mentorship in nursing PhD programs. Efforts to systematically assess and enhance mentorship quality are crucial to improving outcomes for both students and academic programs.

INNOVATION

The Collaboration for Innovation in Mentoring (CLIM) instrument represents a significant advancement in assessing nurse PhD student mentorship quality. Developed using a cross-sectional design and expert evaluations, it captures diverse mentorship aspects such as mentor-mentee fit, multi-mentor teams, and formalized goal setting. The instrument's rigorous testing demonstrated high content validity and test-retest reliability, validating its comprehensive and pragmatic nature. By addressing the shortcomings of previous tools that were either too generic or not psychometrically robust, the CLIM instrument provides a structured method to quantify mentorship quality. Real world applications include its use by nursing PhD program directors to gauge the effectiveness of mentoring initiatives, inform faculty development programs, and potentially increase student recruitment and retention. Ultimately, the CLIM instrument could create cultures of high-quality support and mentorship, which are pivotal for the academic and professional advancement of nursing PhD students.