Abstract

Graduate students face many challenges throughout their education. Stress is commonly associated with higher education, which can be related to meeting the demands of a rigorous educational program, as well as demands in their personal and professional lives. The negative impact that stress can have on academic success, emotional well-being, physical health, and mental health is well-demonstrated in research. Educational institutions should provide resources for students that offer various methods of support to guide them through their education. Peer mentorship programs have been found to be effective means to meet this need for students. This capstone project examined the impact of a peer mentorship program on the stress levels of graduate students in an educational doctorate program. The Perceived Stress Scale was used to evaluate stress levels in educational doctorate students before and after the implementation of a peer mentorship program. Survey responses were limited, so could not be generalized to the entire population of students. Results did not indicate a significant decrease in stress after participation in a peer mentorship program but did demonstrate moderate to high levels of stress in many of the respondents.

Description

Tool(s) used: Perceived Stress Scale

Author Details

Abigail Holzwarth, BSN, RN. DNP Family Practice Student and Valerie Anderson, DNP, MSN-Ed, APRN, FNP-C

Sigma Membership

Tau Tau

Lead Author Affiliation

Nebraska Methodist College, Omaha, Nebraska, USA

Type

DNP Capstone Project

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Other

Research Approach

Qualitative Research

Keywords:

Peer Mentors, Graduate Students, Healthcare Education, Stress

Advisor

Anderson, Valerie

Degree

DNP

Degree Grantor

Nebraska Methodist College

Degree Year

2022

Rights Holder

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All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

Faculty Approved: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Self-submission

Full Text of Presentation

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