Development and Preliminary Testing of the Collaboration for Innovation in Mentoring Survey: An Instrument of Nursing PhD Mentorship Quality

Abstract

Background: High-quality PhD nursing student mentorship facilitates student and program success. Extant literature recommends evaluating and improving mentorship to foster optimal PhD student development. However, a comprehensive measure capturing all aspects of mentorship salient to PhD nursing student wellbeing and success is not available. Objectives: The purpose of this pilot study was to develop a new instrument - the Collaboration for Leadership and Innovation in Mentoring (CLIM) - for quantifying important components of PhD student mentorship in nursing, and to preliminarily test its psychometric properties (content validity, sensitivity, test-retest reliability). Design: The study employed a cross-sectional design. Setting: The CLIM instrument was administered to nursing PhD students at a public state university in the United States. Participants: Sixteen nursing PhD students at various stages in their degree progression completed the instrument. Methods: PhD nursing students developed unique items based on qualitative data collected by the University using an Appreciative Inquiry framework. Seven nursing and non-nursing experts with experience in PhD mentorship evaluated content validity. After revisions, the final 44-item instrument was administered at two time points (one month apart) to allow assessment of test-retest reliability. Test-retest reliability was evaluated using Spearman-rank correlations and data from students with ≥1 year of experience with their mentor. Results: Response rates were 94% for both administrations (n = 16). The instrument's overall Content Validity Index (CVI) was 0.91 (p = 0.05). Test-retest analyses resulted in high correlations (r = 0.91, p < 0.001), further supporting reliability of the CLIM instrument. Conclusions: Preliminary evidence suggests that the CLIM instrument is a reliable instrument of PhD mentorship in nursing. However, additional testing in larger and more diverse graduate student populations is needed to evaluate internal consistency reliability, among other psychometric properties.