Mentorship during transition period: a challenge for newly qualified midwives in Limpopo province of South Africa

BACKGROUND: Mentorship is a process in which structured support is provided to new graduates of the profession to facilitate theireffective transitional journey to professional autonomy. OBJECTIVES: To explore and describe the mentoring process as experienced by newly qualified midwives and experienced midwives during thetransition period. METHODS: Aqualitative approach was used. Five hospitals were selected from Limpopo province. The study was conducted in a maternity unit of each selected hospital. Population comprised of all newly qualified midwives as well as all experienced midwives working at institutions under study. Non-probability, purposive sampling method was used to select twenty-five newly qualified and twenty-five experienced midwives working in maternity wards of selected hospitals. In-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted for data collection. RESULTS: Ineffective mentoring processes were reported, where only a few experienced midwives seemed ready to provide informal and unstructured support to graduates. Experienced midwives recognised their mentoring role however, felt they did not have sufficient knowledge and skills regarding mentoring process. Shortage of staff and increased workload were reported as challenges which negatively affected the mentoring process. CONCLUSION: Mentoring is an effective process for facilitation of graduates' transition process to become registered autonomous midwifery practitioners. However, they were not effectively mentored; consequently, negatively affecting their development to professional maturity.