Development of a Professional Development Tool for New Assistant Professors in Nursing Colleges

Abstract

〔Aims〕The aim of this study was to create a tool to support the professional development of newly appointed assistant professors in nursing colleges, and to examine the validity of the tool as well as how it can be used based on dialogue through mentoring.

〔Methods〕The draft of the tool based on the career development ladder was created based on previous research, and the draft was revised after collecting opinions at an academic conference. Then, seven university faculty members were interviewed about the appropriateness of the tool. Data were analyzed qualitatively. This study was approved by the Ethical Review Committee of the author’s university.

〔Results〕The results of the interview indicated that if the purpose of the tool is to support independent professional development, a rubric is more appropriate than the ladder. Therefore, the original draft of the tool was revised to a tool with 38 items in 7 categories and 3 levels of criteria based on rubrics. Although the participants agreed with the mentoring program, it was expected that there would be difficulties in introducing the program.　

〔Conclusions〕The combination of rubric-based tools and mentoring　program will be effective in supporting the independent learning and role transition of new assistant professors. The tool needs to be validated and refined through implementation studies.