Student Nurses’ Perceptions of a Good Mentor: A Questionnaire Survey of Student Nurses in the UK, USA and Jordan

Aims and Objectives: In 1995, students in the UK identified five characteristics of a good mentor. After 14 years, the author repeated the study to investigate whether students still identify the same characteristics of a good mentor. Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study. Methods: The study was conducted in the UK, USA and Jordan to validate the previous study in countries with different cultures and different mentorship systems. After ethical approval was granted, a structured questionnaire was distributed to a convenience sample of nursing students from one university in each country. Results: A total of 336 students participated in the study: 38.7% from the UK, 10.7% from the USA and 50.6% from Jordan. Comparing the mean and median scores for each of the five qualities for the three countries, the highest means and medians were for the quality “has relevant knowledge and skills”. For the four other qualities, there were similarities between UK and the USA, while the Jordanian nursing students had different mean and median scores.