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Global Research in Higher Education 
ISSN 2576-196X (Print) ISSN 2576-1951 (Online) 

Vol. 1, No. 2, 2018 
www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe 

112 
 

Short Research Article 

Research Project: The Mentoring and Development of 

Emotional Competence in Nursing Students 

José Vilelas1,2, Paula Diogo1,3*, Isabel Lucas1,2 & Maria João Fernandes1,4 
1 Nursing Research & Development Unit, Lisbon, Portugal 
2 Higher Health School of Red Cross, Lisbon, Portugal  
3 Higher Nursing School of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal 
4 Higher Health School of Ribeiro Sanches, Lisbon, Portugal 
* Paula Diogo, Nursing Research & Development Unit, Lisbon, Portugal 

 

Received: May 6, 2018       Accepted: May 15, 2018          Online Published: June 21, 2018 

doi:10.22158/grhe.v1n2p112                URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/grhe.v1n2p112 

 

Abstract 

Nursing care has a very intense emotional component. Nursing students, in addition to dealing with the 

frailties inherent in their life processes and personality development, are still subject to an emotionally 

and socially demanding academic experience. This negatively charged emotionality hinders the 

teaching-learning process and the academic course. The emotional management depends on 

perception and individual resources, and it may be necessary for this regulation support and guidance 

provided by a mentor. The mentoring programs developed in the Institutions of Higher Education 

contribute to the healthy integration of the student and, consequently, to their socialization and 

academic success. Mentors provide guidance to students and extrinsic emotional regulation, through 

support and discussion, and are a resource in managing emotions, contributing to the development of 

emotional competence in nursing students. This quantiquantitative approach research project aims to 

contribute to the construction of a mentoring program that promotes the development of emotional 

competence, essential to academic success and transformative learning in Nursing Degree. 

Keywords  

mentoring, nursing, students, emotions, emotional competence, academic success 

 

1. Introduction 

Students admitted to the nursing degree live an intense emotional experience, exhausting and often 

disturbing, which can weaken your health and inner balance. These students, in addition to having to deal 

with the weaknesses inherent in their life processes and personality development, are still subject to an 



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intense academic experience, which is very demanding from an emotional and social point of view 

(Williams & Williams, 2011; Banks, Owen, & Erickson, 2012). The intense negative emotionality load 

complicates the teaching-learning process and the academic course. The students’ emotional experience 

in Clinical Teaching involves stressful situations that require work at the level of emotional support 

(Diogo, Rodrigues, Lemos e Sousa et al., 2017). From the perspective of Watson’s theory of human 

caring, emotions are a key element for the nurse’s connection with the Self (body, mind and soul) of the 

caregiver. This relationship appears as a rich experience for both stakeholders, in which all grow and 

learn with each other. Thus, nursing care is framed in a “human-to-human caring process” (Watson, 2002, 

p. 69) with a very intense emotional component. Analyzing nursing practice as a relational process 

impregnated with emotions and feelings (Diogo, 2015) becomes a pertinent and necessary horizon, since 

emotional experience is omnipresent in every act of caring (Diogo, 2006). The management of emotions 

and experiences depends on individual perceptions and resources and may be necessary for its regulation 

support, guidance and mediation over the processes of learning and human development (Huybrecht, 

Loeckx, Quaeyhaegens et al., 2010; Rodrigues & Baía, 2012; Lima & Tavares, 2016). 

The concepts of tutoring and supervision differ from the concept of mentoring, as the latter refers to a 

person who helps to understand the system and offers guidance. At the academy in particular, tutoring 

guides the student to succeed in the organization (Bryant, Brody, Perez et al., 2015). Thus, in the 

educational area, tutor is one that contributes to learning, within a certain philosophy of teaching. The 

mentor has an expanded role, marked less by the teaching itself and more by the personal and 

professional orientation of the student as a whole (Botti & Rego, 2008). 

Mentoring contributes to the development of positive perceptions of learning by students (Chuan & 

Barnett, 2012). The mentoring programs developed in Higher Education Institutions contribute to the 

healthy integration of the student, consequently to their socialization and academic success. Orientation 

is part of the leader’s role, which aims to promote growth by helping students develop their own 

academic or career path (Kim, Im, & Hwang, 2015). The mentor, in a work of reciprocity, supports and 

empowers the development of communication skills, critical judgment, evaluation and adjustment 

(Araújo & Vieira, 2013), which empowers talent, seeking the best opportunities and resource 

management, for the individual development and learning (Saraiva & Rodrigues, 2011; Williams, 2013). 

The mentor should, on the one hand, support and guide the student to more effectively reach his or her 

potential (Bain, Fedynich, & Knight, 2010; Bryant, Brody, Perez et al., 2015), on the other hand facilitate 

the development of educational and academic competencies (Williams & Williams, 2011). Mentoring 

facilitates when there is inadequate academic preparation, lack of social and academic resources, and 

anxiety in nursing students, this can reduce dropout and increase success rates for these students (Wong, 

Stake-Doucet, Lombardo et al., 2016). Mentors provide guidance to students and extrinsic emotional 

regulation, through support and discussion, these are a resource and support the management of emotions. 

Through the co-regulation of emotions, mentors facilitate integration and adaptation to the emotions 

experienced (Straus, Johnson, Marquez et al., 2013). When the student achieves positive results with the 



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mentoring program, the mentee feels empowered, confident and encouraged to use this strategy in 

similar situations during the remaining years of the course, and often for a lifetime (McGaghie, Issenberg, 

Petrusa et al., 2010). The mentor works with students on an individualized action plan to increase their 

self-esteem, in order to increase their resilience. When working with the student, the mentor can provide 

help and timely advice on the different features available. Students need to feel valued, and often do not 

optimize available academic resources, for lack of knowledge or fear of breach of confidentiality 

(Marks-Maran, Ooms, Tapping et al., 2013).  

The scientific evidence and the daily life led to the guiding question of this project; how do the nursing 

students live and perceive the negative and exhausting factors and their emotional experience along the 

formative course? The purpose of this study is to contribute to the construction of a mentoring program 

that promotes the development of emotional competence, essential to academic success and a 

transformative learning in Nursing Degree. 

 

2. Overall Objective 

Understand the emotional experiences of the students throughout the teaching-learning process. 

 

3. Methodology 

Exploratory study of a quantiqualitative approach. The sample consists of the degree course nursing 

students (from 1st to 4th year) and their teachers. Data are collected in a first phase by “Emotional Skills 

Competence Questionnaire” (ESCQ) portuguese version (Santos & Faria, 2005); the purpose of applying 

this questionnaire is to identify emotional perception and expression and ability to deal with emotion. 

Emotional perception corresponds to the ability to recognize emotions in oneself and others (Mayer, 

Salovey, & Caruso, 2004). Emotional expression refers to the ability to externalize the affective 

contents in the “here and now” in interaction with the other (Denham, 2007) properly (Alzina & Escoda, 

2007). And the ability to deal with emotion is to be able to manage and regulate emotions in an 

adaptive way, which refers to the concept of emotional regulation that consists of the conscious and/or 

unconscious strategic process by which the individual influences the type of emotion that he has, when 

and how he experiences them and expresses (Gross & Thompson, 2007). This questionnaire consists of 

45 items, on a six-point Likert scale, ranging from never to ever, composed of three subscales: 

“emotional perception”, with 15 items corresponding to the questions: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 

33, 36, 39, 42 and 44; “Emotional expression”, with 14 items corresponding to the questions: 2, 5, 8, 11, 

14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35, 38 and 41; and “ability to deal with emotion” with 16 items 

corresponding to the questions: 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34, 37, 40, 43 and 45. In this scale 

there are no inverted items (Santos & Faria, 2005). In a second phase, students will be interviewed, until 

data saturation, with the objective of understanding emotionally intense and disturbing experiences in the 

student’s perspective; understand their training needs aimed at the development of emotional 

competence; identify emotional management strategies; identify emotional management resources; 



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analyze mentoring as a resource for the development of emotional competence. In the third phase there 

will be the realization of a focus group for teachers, also with the objective of understanding the 

emotionally intense situations of the students; understanding weaknesses in emotional development; 

analyze their training needs, which aim to develop emotional competence; and to analyze mentoring as 

a resource for the development of emotional competence. 

 

4. Expected Results 

This project will be performed in different Portuguese nursing education institutions, and its temporal 

prediction will be two years. Participants are expected to benefit from this study by reflecting on the 

recognition of their emotional competence, analyzing emotional management strategies that promote 

their overall wellbeing and emotional balance, and the ability to identify resources that target their 

emotional development by empowering them to cope more effectively with adversities as students and 

throughout their lives. No damage is expected for the participants.  

In summary, with this study, it is important to define formative strategies and transformational learning 

opportunities for the development of the nursing student’s emotional competence. Thus, it is expected to 

be able to understand the emotional experiences lived by the students, and with this to raise awareness of 

the importance of mentoring in the Nursing Degree Course and structure the guidelines of a mentoring 

program, adapted to a constructive learning and cognitive development, stimulating the emotional 

competence of the nursing student. 

 

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