The Effect of Peer Mentoring Training on Mentor Students' Life Skills

Mentoring, which is studied in diverse fields such as business, psychology, and health, also has various applications in education. Supporting the professional training and personal development of nursing students, enhancing academic success, and easing the process of settling into school or university are some of these applications. A mentor is an experienced person who helps and supports a mentee's learning. A mentee, on the other hand, is someone who receives career assistance and/or psychosocial support from a more senior and experienced mentor. Responsibilities of a mentor include support, information, protection, assigning responsibilities that will enable skill development, acting as a role model, counseling, ensuring the mentee's acceptance and acceptance of the institution, and friendship. Competence of mentors is crucial for a successful mentoring relationship.

Life skills are adaptable and positive behavioral skills that enable individuals to effectively cope with the demands, challenges, and obstacles of daily life. These skills support individuals for a productive life, help them adapt more easily to their situations, and are learnable skills. UNESCO (2008) defines life skills as: It defines life skills as psychosocial skills that can be learned and applied, such as self-awareness, problem-solving, critical thinking, and interpersonal skills. The World Health Organization (WHO), on the other hand, expands the definition of life skills, encompassing decision-making, problem-solving, coping with stress, coping with emotions, self-awareness, communication skills, creative thinking, empathy, and interpersonal skills.

This study was planned as a randomized controlled pretest-posttest experimental study to determine the effect of peer mentoring training on the life skills of mentor nursing students. The study was conducted between December 2022 and June 2023 at the Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, of a state university. The study population consisted of third- and fourth-year students enrolled in the Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, of a state university during the 2022-2023 academic year. The G*Power (v3.1.9.7) program was used to determine the sample size, and a total of 32 students were included, 16 in each group, taking into account possible losses. Before the study began, students were numbered and randomly assigned to either the experimental or control groups using a random number table. First, students were interviewed face-to-face to inform them about the study and invite them to participate. Informed consent was obtained from those who agreed to participate. For pre-test purposes, participants in the experimental and control groups were asked to fill out the Descriptive Information Form and the Life Skills Scale. Then, students in the experimental group received 15 hours of peer mentoring training. The training included presentations by faculty members specialized in self-management and self-awareness, stress management, coaching and mentoring, critical thinking, problem solving and decision-making, effective communication, and relationship management. Twelve hours of the training were conducted face-to-face. Due to the earthquake disaster in our country during the training period, education and training began to be conducted online. Therefore, three hours of the training were conducted online. The control group did not participate. After the training, students in the experimental and control groups were asked to complete the Life Skills Scale again for post-test purposes, and the final data were collected online. Ethics committee approval, institutional permission, and scale use permission were obtained before starting the research.

Inclusion criteria

• Must be a third- or fourth-year student in the relevant department during the 2022-2023 academic year
• Students in the intervention group must be mentors in the peer mentoring program
• Attend at least half of the training sessions
• Participate in the research voluntarily
• Completely complete the data collection tool.

Exclusion criteria

• Being a first or second year student,
• Wanting to withdraw from the study for any reason,
• Filling out the data collection tool incompletely/incorrectly.