Effectiveness of clinical mentorship program for students of long-term aged care: A mixed-methods study

Background: Internationally, the population is rapidly aging with a strong demand for aged care services. In Taiwan, both recruiting and retaining staff to aged care poses difficulties. Good clinical role models can posi-tively impact students' confidence and professional development and influence their willingness to enter the long-term aged care workforce.Objectives: To clarify clinical mentors' roles and competencies and assess the effectiveness of a mentorship program for improving students' professional commitment and self-efficacy in long-term aged care.Design: A mixed-methods study with a quasi-experimental research design and qualitative interviews.Settings: Purposive sampling was used to recruit long-term aged care professional clinical mentors with preceptor qualifications and nursing and aged care students enrolled in a two-year technical program in a Taiwanese university's gerontology care department.Participants: Fourteen mentors and 48 students participated. The student control group received regular edu-cation; the experimental group received mentorship guidance. Methods: This study included three phases. Phase one involved qualitative interviews to identify clinical mentors' roles and competencies. Phase two involved expert panel meetings to establish the clinical mentorship program's content and implementation. Phase three involved the program's evaluation. Quantitative questionnaires were administered before the program and subsequently at 6, 12, and 18 months to assess mentors' effectiveness and students' professional commitment and self-efficacy in long-term aged care. Qualitative focus groups solicited participants' feelings and suggestions for the program.Results: Clinical mentors' roles and competencies centered on two themes: professional role model and estab-lishing good rapport. Quantitative analysis showed that mentoring effectiveness initially recorded a decline, followed by a subsequent increase. Both groups' professional self-efficacy and commitment followed an increasing trend. While the experimental group's professional commitment score was significantly higher than the control groups, their professional self-efficacy scores did not differ significantly. Conclusions: The clinical mentorship program improved students' long-term aged care professional commitment and self-efficacy.