Peer Mentoring: A Way of Developing Internal Locus of Control to Empower New Nursing Students

Objective: This study investigated changes in the locus of control (LOC) of new nursing students in a Turkish University. Students were put through a mentoring program provided by senior students. Material and Methods: Seventy-two new students are included in this twelve week, evaluative,pre- and post-test design study. Dağ’s (2002) Locus of Control Scale (LOCS) for Turkish samples was used to assess their personal control beliefs. Lower scores represent an internal orientation of LOC. Following a one-day mentorship orientation program, the seventy-two senior students enrolled in the Nursing Education course were randomly assigned as peer mentors for new students. The faculty provided assistance to both mentees and mentors. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, median), Kruskall Wallis test and Wilcoxon test were used to evaluate data.Results: The test group’s LOC scores showed a decrease in score across a three-month period (p 0.001). The biggest difference was observed in “Personal control” and the smallest difference was observed in the area of “Belief in fate”. Conclusion: In this study, the mentorship program had a favourable effect on new students’ internal LOC. Peer mentorship can provide many learning experiences for both new and senior nursing students