HELP-GIVING ORIENTATION AND PERCEPTIONS OF SUPPORT: A MODEL FOR NEWCOMER ADJUSTMENT IN NURSE PRECEPTOR PROGRAMS

Modern healthcare systems are faced with increasing challenges beyond the traditional realms of patient care. Nurses function as indispensable care providers yet widely publicized are the challenges nurses face upon entering new hospital environments. Research has shown nurse preceptor programs are beneficial in reducing new nurse hire turnover but wide-scale differences in preceptor programs make consensus on what constitutes a good preceptor program difficult. Looking into the interpersonal factors relevant to preceptor-preceptee relationships is a way more applicable data can be gathered for the development of better preceptor programs. This thesis presents a model for nurse preceptor help-giving orientation and its relationships to newcomer adjustment through perceptions of support. Data was collected through a large hospital system with 231 new nurse hires and 100 nurse preceptors completing the survey. Significant relationships were found between preceptor autonomous help-giving and both instrumental and emotional support, (β = .80, p < .01) and (β = .78, p < .01) respectively. Preceptor autonomous help-giving had significant relationships directly with both task mastery and performance, (β = .38, p < .01) and (β = -.33, p < .05) respectively. No significant relationships between social adjustment and any other model variables were established. Findings indicate that autonomous help-giving has a powerful role in newcomer adjustment while also establishing the need for additional research on interpersonal aspects of preceptor programs as only some newcomer adjustment variables were related to preceptor help-giving orientation.