Mentorship relations among academician nurses in Turkey: An assessment from the viewpoints of mentors and mentees Serap Altuntas ⁎ Ataturk University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Nursing Management Department, Atatürk Universitesi Saglik Bilimleri Fakültesi Erzurum, Turkey summary article info Article history: Accepted 15 September 2011 Keywords: Higher education Mentorship Nursing Academic nurse The research was conducted with a descriptive and comparative design to determine how academic nurses (instructors-research assistants) perceive the mentorship relations among themselves. The research was car- ried out in 10 schools of nursing that offer graduate level education in Turkey, and the data were collected from those academics who are employed in these institutions and who agreed to participate in the research. The data are composed of personal information forms and mentorship scales filled out by 238 academic nurses. The collected data were assessed using SPSS 11.5 software to run percentage and frequency distribu- tion, Cronbach's Alpha analysis, ANOVA, t-test, Kruskal Wallis, Mann Whitney U and – for advanced analysis – Tukey HSD tests. This research determined that mentors and mentees consider the relationship between themselves as mostly a teacher–student relationship, they experience lack of interaction due to shortness of time, mentors tend to evaluate themselves more positively and mentees at the master's level evaluate mentors more positively. In addition, while mentees evaluated assistant professor mentors more positively, assistant professor mentors constituted the group that evaluated itself in the most negative manner. Moreover, mentors with higher academic experiences evaluated themselves more positively. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Individuals need support to improve their personal and profes- sional skills and adapt to their organizational roles, throughout their career. This support can be obtained through effective execution of the mentorship process (Ceylan, 2004; Erdem and Özen, 2003). Mentorship, which takes its name from Greek mythology, was de- fined during the Middle Ages as the teacher–student relationship (Ceylan, 2004). Today the term is employed in human resource man- agement as a career development tool and as an educational method that improves the performance quality (Erdem and Özen, 2003; Vatan, 2009). Mentorship is generally defined as a relationship of one-to-one support, cooperation and sharing, which is based on vol- unteerism but not on a pecking order, and in which a specialist (men- tor) conveys his/her knowledge and experiences and becomes a model to another person (mentee) (Bray and Nettleton, 2007; Ceylan, 2004; Erdem and Özen, 2003; Özkalp et al., 2006). In addition, men- torship relations, constitute a set of reciprocal relationships based on the principles of respect, honesty and commitment, which require undertaking several roles concomitantly, such as being an advisor, sponsor, tutor, advocate, coach, protector, role model and guide (Bray and Nettleton, 2007; Burke and McKeen, 1990; Ceylan, 2004; Eliasson et al., 2000; Özkalp et al., 2006; Schrodt et al., 2003). The mentee, who is defined with terms such as apprentice, student, pupil, understudy, partner etc., actively shapes his/her development under the guidance of an influential and important person (mentor) (Ceylan, 2004; Çınar, 2007; Eliasson et al., 2000; Vatan, 2009). Benefits of the mentorship process, which is usually implemented in the business life for those who start a new job, undertake a new responsibility or show potential, are indicated for mentors, mentees and the organization. It is reported that this relationship improves mentors' communication skills, helps them acquire new perspectives by refreshing their knowledge, makes them feel pleasure by contrib- uting to others' development, improves their empathy skills and helps them mature further (Baltaş, 2010; Çınar, 2007; Gibson, 2004; Vatan, 2009). It is suggested that it facilitates mentees' adaptation to the organizational culture, helps them make less mistakes and make more efficient decisions by benefiting from the experiences of mentors, and increases their commitment to the organization (Erdem and Özen, 2003; Özkalp et al., 2006). In addition, it is under- lined that, in the long run, mentorship prevents mentees from having groundless worries, fears and stressful situations, helps them cope with situations that inhibit their development easily and increases their self-reliance and maturity. Moreover, it improves job satisfac- tion, motivation, career satisfaction, performance and promotion rates, and decreases the tendency to resign (Allen et al., 2004; Baltaş, 2010; Bray and Nettleton, 2007; Çınar, 2007; Erdem and Özen, 2003; Özkalp et al., 2006; Penner, 2001; Poteat et al., 2009). For the Nurse Education Today 32 (2012) 652–656 ⁎ Tel.: +90 442 231 23 61; fax: +90 442 236 09 84. E-mail address: serap342002@yahoo.com. 0260-6917/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2011.09.008 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Nurse Education Today journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/nedt