Abstract

Introduction

Starting university is an important achievement in the life of many youths, the majority profile of university students, who must deal with new academic demands and face new challenges: they take on responsibilities, build new relationships and, sometimes, leave their parents’ home definitively to share a house with other students or to live alone¹1. Oliveira CT, Dias ACG. Dificuldades na trajetória universitária e rede de apoio de calouros e formandos. Psico. 2014; 45(2):187-97. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.15448/1980-8623.2014.2.13347.
http://dx.doi.org/10.15448/1980-8623.201... ,²2. Oliveira REC, Morais A. Vivências acadêmicas e adaptação de estudantes de uma universidade pública federal do Estado do Paraná. Rev Educ Publica. 2015; 24(57):547-68..

In this context of transition to university life, social and academic integrations are essential to strengthen the student’s support network inside the university and to favor their adaptation and success in higher education³3. Teixeira MAP, Castro AKSS, Zoltowski AP. Integração acadêmica e integração social nas primeiras semanas na universidade: percepção de estudantes universitários. Gerais (Univ Fed Juiz Fora). 2012; 5(1):69-85..

According to Tinto⁴4. Tinto V. Dropout from higher education: a theorical synthesis of recent research. Rev Educ Res. 1975; 45(1):89-125. doi: https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543045001089.
https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654304500108... , academic integration refers to the feeling of belonging to the university environment, to the context and demands inherent in it, which include students’ satisfaction with the personal development that emerges with the activities they experience, their affinity with the course, and the quality of the support received from teachers.

Social integration, in turn, is the student’s personal satisfaction that derives from interaction with people in the university environment and from the personal development associated with this interaction, that is, it comprises different social activities in the university environment and the student’s feeling of being part of a collective in this environment³3. Teixeira MAP, Castro AKSS, Zoltowski AP. Integração acadêmica e integração social nas primeiras semanas na universidade: percepção de estudantes universitários. Gerais (Univ Fed Juiz Fora). 2012; 5(1):69-85..

This integration can influence the decision of remaining in university or abandoning the course, as students who integrate since the beginning of their academic journey are more likely to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the institution, both in professional education and in their psychosocial development, when compared to students who face difficulties in the transition to university⁵5. Teixeira MAP, Dias ACG, Wottrich AH, Oliveira AM. Adaptação à universidade em jovens calouros. Psicol Esc Educ. 2008; 12(1):185-202. doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/S1413-85572008000100013.
https://doi.org/10.1590/S1413-8557200800... .

Among the strategies adopted to aid the transition process to university, mentoring programs are one of the main interventions, applied to different contexts by different countries, to welcome and support new university students. Such programs encompass a significant process of mutual learning; in other words, it is a partnership for reciprocal learning in which an experienced and empathic person, the mentor, advises, supports and influences another person, the mentee, in his or her personal and professional development, through an interaction characterized by fellowship, trust and understanding⁶6. Gilmour JA, Kopeikin A, Douche J. Student nurses as peer-mentors: collegiality in practice. Nurse Educ Pract. 2007; 7(1):36-43. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2006.04.004.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2006.04.0... ,⁷7. Carragher J, McGaughey J. The effectiveness of peer mentoring in promoting a positive transition to higher education for first-year undergraduate students: a mixed methods systematic review protocol. Syst Rev. 2016; 5(68):1-9. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-016-0245-1.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-016-0245-... .

In the Nursing course of the University of Brasília (UnB), Darcy Ribeiro campus, the evolution of the metrics on dropout rate and success rate show that the course’s dropout rate has been equal to or even surpassed the success rate over the years⁸8. Comissão Própria de Avaliação da Universidade de Brasília. Perfil dos Estudantes de Enfermagem (Bacharelado) Integral 2018 [Internet]. Brasília: Universidade de Brasília; 2018 [citado 20 Ago 2019]. Disponível em: http://cpa.unb.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=456&Itemid=305
http://cpa.unb.br/index.php?option=com_c... .

In light of this situation, in 2017, the Student Mentoring Program in Nursing of the University of Brasília was implemented, with the objective of fostering the undergraduate nursing students’ transition to university and development of technical-scientific and relational skills, by means of integration and peer support.

Thus, viewing the Student Mentoring Program in Nursing as a space for the construction of a collaborative and reciprocal partnership in favor of students’ academic integration, the present work aims to report on the experience of this Program, focusing on the supportive relationships and mutual learning established between pairs of students. Another objective of this article is to reflect on the dialogic resonances of this experience on the professional education of future female and male nurses.

First, the article approaches the definition of mentoring applied to the university context; then, it presents the experience of the Student Mentoring Program in Nursing, the setting in which the mentoring relationships develop. Finally, it describes and reflects on these relationships, presenting their resonances.

Mentoring in the university context: Clarifying terms and concepts

Although mentoring has been presented as a phenomenon of contemporary times, it dates back to the times of ancient civilizations. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are considered the first records that reflect the essence and presuppositions of mentoring, based on the relationship constructed between Mentor, Odysseus and his son, Telemachus, the three main characters of the story⁹9. Penin AT, Catalão JA. Ferramentas de mentoring. Lisboa: Lidel; 2018..

Mentor was the name of an advisor entrusted with the responsibility of taking care of Telemachus, son of king Odysseus, when the king left to fight in the Trojan War. The generational learning relationship between the wise Mentor and the young Telemachus endured for many years, a period in which he was guided and supported, developing himself in personal terms and also in terms of practical experiences. Due to this story, the term Mentor has been used, over the centuries, as synonymous with experienced guide, wise and protective advisor¹⁰10. Fénelon FSM. As aventuras de Telêmaco: filho de Ulisses. São Paulo: Madras; 2014..

In the context of religions, for example in Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism, there usually is the figure of the disciple who receives religious and moral guidance from gurus, monks and rabbis. However, this relationship was based on a hierarchy in which the mentor, an older person who represented wisdom, told the novice what to do, while the novice should listen to the mentor and accept and follow his advices¹¹11. Bernhoeft R. Mentoring - prática e casos: fundamental para o desenvolvimento de carreiras. São Paulo: Évora; 2014..

In modern times, during the 1970s, in the North American and European context, institutional mentoring programs targeted at professional development started to be structured and, years later, were implemented in the area of health, mainly in nursing schools¹²12. Bellodi PL, Martins MA. Tutoria: mentoring na formação médica. São Paulo: Casa do Psicólogo; 2005..

Since then, the concept of mentoring has evolved and, today, it consists of a learning and partnership alliance in which mentor and mentee reflect, learn and develop synergistically, without any hierarchic precedence determined by age, knowledge, position nor by any other factor⁹9. Penin AT, Catalão JA. Ferramentas de mentoring. Lisboa: Lidel; 2018.,¹¹11. Bernhoeft R. Mentoring - prática e casos: fundamental para o desenvolvimento de carreiras. São Paulo: Évora; 2014..

Because it generates different interpretations, there is a certain confusion, in the literature, in relation to the multiple meanings of mentoring. Some authors have decided to use the expressions ‘mentorship’ and ‘mentoring’ even when writing works in languages other than English, and use the term ‘tutorship’ as synonymous with mentoring¹³13. Albanes P, Soares FMS, Bardagi MP. Programas de tutoría y mentoría en universidades brasileñas: un estudio bibliométrico. Rev Psicol. 2015; 33(1):21-56..

In view of the semantic similarities between the terms ‘preceptor’, ‘tutor’ and ‘mentor’ in the sphere of health teaching, it is important to clarify the meaning of each of these words, especially when they are translated from different languages¹⁴14. Botti SHO, Rego S. Preceptor, supervisor, tutor e mentor: quais são seus papéis? Rev Bras Educ Med. 2008; 32(3):363-73. doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-55022008000300011.
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-5502200800... .

The term preceptor is used to refer to the professional who contributes to reduce the gap between theory and practice in the sphere of the student’s teaching-learning process and, thus, favors the development of technical competencies in a real clinical environment¹⁵15. Garneau AZ. Mentorship, preceptorship and nurse residency programs. In: Zerwwkh J, Garneau AZ, organizadores. Nursing today: transitions and trends. 9th ed. St Louis: Saunders; 2018. p. 47-63..

The tutor, in turn, acts as a guide, that is, a facilitator in the student-centered teaching-learning process, playing an important role as an evaluator. He or she can work with one single student or with a small group of students¹⁴14. Botti SHO, Rego S. Preceptor, supervisor, tutor e mentor: quais são seus papéis? Rev Bras Educ Med. 2008; 32(3):363-73. doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-55022008000300011.
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-5502200800... .

In the case of the term mentor, this designation takes guidance beyond “learning how to learn”, focusing not only on the course’s objectives, but also on advising the student in their search for interpersonal, psychosocial, educational and professional development, in a multifaceted relationship of reciprocity where the gain is not unilateral¹⁴14. Botti SHO, Rego S. Preceptor, supervisor, tutor e mentor: quais são seus papéis? Rev Bras Educ Med. 2008; 32(3):363-73. doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-55022008000300011.
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-5502200800... ,¹⁵15. Garneau AZ. Mentorship, preceptorship and nurse residency programs. In: Zerwwkh J, Garneau AZ, organizadores. Nursing today: transitions and trends. 9th ed. St Louis: Saunders; 2018. p. 47-63..

The main difference of the role of mentor in relation to the other two is that he or she plays neither a clinical nor an evaluator role; rather, he/she induces critical-reflective reasoning, stimulating the student to develop skills to solve personal and professional problems while striving to acquire their own knowledge and independence¹⁵15. Garneau AZ. Mentorship, preceptorship and nurse residency programs. In: Zerwwkh J, Garneau AZ, organizadores. Nursing today: transitions and trends. 9th ed. St Louis: Saunders; 2018. p. 47-63..

In the specific case of peer mentoring in the university context, it is seen as a supportive relationship between peers in which supervisor and supervisee have similarities in terms of age and status: both are students¹⁶16. Botma Y, Hurter S, Kotze R. Responsibilities of nursing schools with regard to peer mentoring. Nurse Educ Today. 2013; 33(8):808-13. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2012.02.021.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2012.02.0... . Its goal is to support the pairs while they are dealing with emotional problems, academic difficulties and social integration – both students share opinions, personal plans, and problems of everyday life¹⁷17. Chaves LJ, Gonçalves ECQ, Ladeira LR, Ribeiro MS, Costa MB, Ramos AAM. A tutoria como estratégia educacional no ensino médico. Rev Bras Educ Med. 2014; 38(4):532-41. doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-55022014000400015.
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-5502201400... .

The main benefits of a peer mentoring relationship are: the mentees mention the support received from peers at the beginning of academic life and acquisition of new knowledge, while the mentors refer to self-gratification and improvement in leadership, communication and management skills, not to mention reports of lower levels of anxiety and stress during students’ transition to the academic and clinical environment¹⁸18. Andersen T, Watkins K. The value of peer mentorship as an educational strategy in nursing. J Nurs Educ. 2018; 57(4):217-22. doi: https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20180322-05.
https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-2018032... .

Thus, in addition to being a strategic intervention to improve transition to academic life, student mentoring is an opportunity for students, both mentors and mentees, to develop skills and competencies required in the context of professional practice, mainly skills related to organization, effective communication and relational approach, as well as feelings of trust, understanding and enthusiasm¹⁹19. Wong C, Stake-Doucet N, Lombardo C, Sanzone L, Tsimicalis A. An integrative review of peer mentorship programas for undergraduate nursing students. J Nurs Educ. 2016; 55(3):141-9. doi: https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20160216-04.
https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-2016021... .

Methodological considerations and description of the experience

This is a descriptive study of the experience report type. Its object is the Peer Mentoring Program in Nursing of the University of Brasília (UnB) and it focuses on the supportive relationships and mutual learning that have been established between students from its implementation until the present moment.

The report was structured from students’ narratives registered in online forms administered in each edition of the Program. The forms are one of the data collection instruments of an ongoing research approved by the Ethics Committee of the Institution under CAAE 61982116.3.0000.0030.

The Peer Mentoring Program in Nursing is an extension project of continuous action, inaugurated in May 2017, whose essence is solidarity and mutual support between Nursing students of the School of Health Sciences of the University of Brasília.

The Program aims to foster the transition of nursing students to academic life by means of the sharing of experiences and knowledge about the university and the undergraduate course. Furthermore, it enables the development of skills and competencies required in the context of professional practice in nursing.

The Program is composed of students from different semesters of the Nursing course, as well as former students - nurses inserted in different areas of activity - and the teacher who coordinates the Program. The participants can act as volunteers in the function of mentees or mentors and regularly enrolled students receive extension credits every semester they participate in the Program.

The mentees are the Program’s target students, that is, they want to receive support and help from another student during their academic journey and, for this, they report their needs and share experiences, successes and difficulties related to their academic and/or personal life with their mentor.

They can be first-year students - students who are starting their university life and, therefore, are experiencing a moment of transition in the academic dimension - or students who have already begun their journey in university but have just started to attend the Nursing course because they were transferred, reintegrated or participated in an exchange program, among other reasons.

In addition, the Program accepts students who, regardless of the semester they are in, want to receive support and exchange ideas with other experienced students who have been in university for a longer time about plans they want to experience or are already experiencing.

The mentors, in turn, are students who are in a moment of affirmation and have a great desire to share with other people their knowledge and the experiences they have had in university in the spheres of teaching, extension, research, and even in the personal sphere.

The mentors must have at least one year of academic experience in the course and must be willing to embrace the mentees’ questions, difficulties and challenges, supporting them throughout the process and sharing information, knowledge and experiences, focusing on their usefulness to the development of the mentees.

The Student Mentoring Program is theoretically grounded on Paulo Freire’s²⁰20. Freire P. Pedagogia do oprimido. 50a ed. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra; 2011. dialogic perspectives, as it is made by and with students who present specificities of roles, without verticality and authoritarianism in the relationship, as both, mentors and mentees, are subjects in the act of exchange, who are (re)learning with each other and teaching one another by means of dialog - an encounter in which the subjects’ reflection and action are exchanged, addressed to the context to be transformed and humanized - in this case, the academic and professional context.

As new students start attending the course every semester, the Program’s edition is also delimited by semester, including the following activities during each period:

• recruitment of new participants;

• weekly thematic encounters about matters related to university life and/or the nursing profession;

• supervision of mentors;

• events;

• continuous peer mentoring sessions.

The recruitment activities consist of actions to attract potential participants to the Program, by means of dissemination in digital media and personal approach, both of them performed every semester. Since the Program started two years ago, 161 students participated in it: 79 as mentors and 89 as mentees. It is important to mention that, of this total, approximately 40 students participated in more than one edition of the Program, that is, they remained in it for more than one semester.

The weekly thematic encounters involve meetings to disseminate and discuss general matters related to university life, defined and presented in a schedule jointly developed by the students themselves at the beginning of the semester. Some of the approached themes are the course’s curriculum, scientific initiation, academic mobility, job market, and postgraduate education.

It is important to emphasize that the students themselves organize the encounters in the School’s rooms every Monday and, depending on the theme, invite nurses (approximately 10 professionals during the semester) to talk about a certain matter. The action of former students, graduate nurses, occurs exclusively in these thematic encounters, which assume the aspect of an amplified mentoring session about a specific topic, directed at all the pairs of students.

The supervision of mentors, in turn, includes monitoring, resolution of impasses, supportive actions, and provision of qualifications necessary to the exercise of the mentor function. These actions are performed by the teacher who coordinates the Program.

Some events are held once during the semester, like the Welcoming Event to receive the Program’s participants at the beginning of each semester, and extension events in general, like the Exhibition of the University of Brasília’s Undergraduate Programs, which introduces the Student Mentoring Program as an intervention strategy in the transition to university and to the undergraduate Nursing course.

In addition, there are workshops and courses about themes of interest to students and the Gratefulness Event, held at the end of each semester - a get-together in which the participants evaluate the Program.

Finally, the mentoring sessions, the great highlight of the Program, are specific moments between mentor and mentee. There are 22 pairs each semester on average, formed by students - a horizontal student-to-student relationship.

The sessions happen based on the demand of each pair and, therefore, the frequency is not previously defined. In spite of this, these are not random meetings; on the contrary, they are held based on the mission statement that is discussed and established by each pair at the beginning of the mentoring process and refers to the purpose, or rather, to what they expect to achieve with their relationship and partnership.

Mentor and mentee are free to conduct the sessions in the modality they want, either in face-to-face encounters in the university, or in virtual sessions mediated by e-mail and WhatsApp. The option is registered when they execute the mentoring contract.

In the mentoring sessions, each mentee meets his or her mentor to address specific academic matters and even personal matters. It is at this moment that the pairs share their expectations, difficulties, interests, explanations and specific plans about activities and opportunities offered by the university and the Nursing course, as well as support and study guidance - and, more important than all these, it is in the sessions that they develop and strengthen the ties and bonds that join them.

Mentoring relationships between students: Reflections and dialogic resonances

Why a mentoring relationship?

The mentors expressed the desire to learn with another person and share their own experience of academic life as a possibility to welcome and help the mentees, either because they did not have this support in their trajectory and now they can offer it to someone, or as an attitude of thankfulness for the support they received when they were mentees in the past:

The mentors’ motivations reveal empathy and affection as a way of welcoming the other in the self and, at the same time, the possibility of recognizing the self in the other - the commitment to the other’s need and cause²¹21. Amorim FV, Calloni H. Sobre o conceito de amorosidade em Paulo Freire. Conjectura Filos Educ [Internet]. 2017 [citado 20 Set 2019]; 22(2):380-92. Disponível em: http://www.ucs.br/etc/revistas/index.php/conjectura/article/view/4807/pdf
http://www.ucs.br/etc/revistas/index.php... .

Similarly, the mentees’ motivations reveal, beyond the desire to be helped in their academic journey by a more experienced colleague, willingness to exchange experiences, to receive and give, to learn and teach with a critical and reflective mind.

In the mentoring context, it is expected that a partnership of reciprocal learning is built where mentor and mentee learn and develop; after all, mentors know about matters and have had experiences that their mentees have not, in the personal and/or academic spheres. Mentees, in turn, also have knowledge and experiences that their mentors do not have.

No one is in a higher level, no one is in a lower level, or, as Freire stated, “no one is superior to anyone”. Both need to recognize themselves as equals: it is necessary to be humble to recognize that the other has something to contribute and really share feelings, expectations and needs²²22. Kohan WO. Paulo Freire e o valor da igualdade em educação. Educ Pesqui. 2019; 45:e201600. doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/s1678-4634201945201600.
https://doi.org/10.1590/s1678-4634201945... . After all, no one is absolutely ignorant and no one is absolutely wise - they are students who, in communion, want to know more.

Mentors and mentees show they are increasingly aware they are not sufficient in themselves and are not completely formed. Thus, the mentoring relationship is seen as a possibility to (re)learn and be with the other, towards alterity:

Alterity constitutes the subject and points to an unfinished and incomplete being in a permanent condition of “becoming”, who makes and remakes him/herself constantly, with the other and based on the other. And it is by becoming more and more aware of his/her incompleteness that the subject moves towards the adventure of searching for knowledge that is still unknown, of searching for what can be but has not happened yet, for what already is, but can be different; in short, the subject searches for “being more” and for humanization²³23. Freire P, Freire N, Oliveira WF. Pedagogia da solidariedade. 3a ed. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra; 2018..

The value of mentoring and its resonances

The Program has enabled students to develop experiences of solidarity, a link between peers, and a sincere concern for the other that allow the concrete development of a collective that is not marked by competition²⁴24. Martins NM, Cardoso DSA, Costa LMC, Santos RM, Santos LS. As formas de vivência da competitividade pelos estudantes na graduação em enfermagem. Trab Educ Saude. 2017; 15(3):895-916. doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-7746-sol00069.
https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-7746-sol000... .

The students also mentioned, as important contributions resulting from the mentoring process, improved integration, better participation in the course, support received to organize and plan academic activities, knowledge of the opportunities that the university offers, improved oral skills in presentation of works in scientific events, and even new perspectives and possibilities for their professional future:

These reports corroborate the results of another study about a Peer Tutorship Program of the Psychology course of a public university in which students highlighted, as positive points of the tutorship, clarifications about the university and the course, help in the management of their time, personal development and improvement in their hearing skills, not to mention personal satisfaction²⁵25. Estevam C, Sticca AJBM, Versuti FM. Programa de tutorial por pares no ensino superior: estudo de caso. Rev Bras Orientac Prof. 2018; 19(2):185-95..

However, more than this, the mentoring relationships helped students to be more sensitive to the other, to pay attention to the other’s needs and to put themselves in the other’s shoes; ultimately, the mentoring program helped them to become nurses who are more humane.

It is necessary to contrast these resonances with the competitiveness that damages the academic environment, which, grounded on superiority and self-sufficiency, is naturalized in the discourse of many nursing students as synonymous with one’s ability to overcome problems and with maintaining a distance from the other²⁴24. Martins NM, Cardoso DSA, Costa LMC, Santos RM, Santos LS. As formas de vivência da competitividade pelos estudantes na graduação em enfermagem. Trab Educ Saude. 2017; 15(3):895-916. doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-7746-sol00069.
https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-7746-sol000... .

From omissions in order to avoid competition for seats in monitoring programs, internships and exams, to self-sufficiency when students feel more qualified than their peers, thinking they are not in the same level and will not reach them, the literature shows that the experiences which pervade the daily routine of many nursing students drive them away from each other. This occurs because they see the other students as potential competitors and/or as potential means to the fulfilment of personal objectives²⁴24. Martins NM, Cardoso DSA, Costa LMC, Santos RM, Santos LS. As formas de vivência da competitividade pelos estudantes na graduação em enfermagem. Trab Educ Saude. 2017; 15(3):895-916. doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-7746-sol00069.
https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-7746-sol000... .

Solidarity requires us to truly take off our individualism, which places selfishness above altruism and vainly values solipsistic ambitions, on behalf of the self’s solidarity with the other²¹21. Amorim FV, Calloni H. Sobre o conceito de amorosidade em Paulo Freire. Conjectura Filos Educ [Internet]. 2017 [citado 20 Set 2019]; 22(2):380-92. Disponível em: http://www.ucs.br/etc/revistas/index.php/conjectura/article/view/4807/pdf
http://www.ucs.br/etc/revistas/index.php... .

Thus, we found that the Mentoring Program has contributed to the construction of humanized and dialogic relationships based on solidarity among nursing students during their journey in the university.

More than contributing to academic and social integration, the mentoring process can foster the development of healthier and more collaborative relationships beyond the walls of the University, which can be seen, for example, in the relationship between students and the healthcare team and between students and healthcare users.

Final remarks

The resonances of the Peer Mentoring Program in Nursing point to mentoring as a potential humanizing and transformative strategy in the nursing students’ educational trajectory. By means of dialogic relationships, these students could experience and develop skills and values of a relational and reflective praxis, something that is still very limited in health curricula but, at the same time, is essential to the construction of a collective work that lays the foundation for the area of health and nursing.

In addition to potentializing academic and social integration by strengthening more humanized academic relationships among students during university life, especially in the period of transition to university, it is expected that the mentoring process between students resonates dialogically on the relations they establish with patients and with the work team in curricular internship settings, and also in the life of these future nurses, who will soon be leaders of healthcare teams, supervisors of interns and/or nursing residents.

Finally, the reflections of this work are pertinent to support the development of further investigations with the objective of better understanding the experience and the impact of the Mentoring Program on the personal and academic development of nursing students.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the entire team of students, mentors and mentees who, together, make the Mentoring Program be and become more and more humane day by day!

References

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