LAUSR

BACKGROUND The Mentors' Behavior Scale was developed and validated initially among nursing students by assessing the importance of mentors' behavior, showing satisfactory psychometrics and the potential to match mentors with students according to students' expectation. OBJECTIVES This study aims to test the discriminant validity and the structure of the Mentor's Behavior Scale among mentors to assess mentors' performance. DESIGN A cross-sectional survey was applied in the study. SETTING Data were collected from mentors in seven hospitals in north, south, southwest China in 2016 and 2017. PARTICIPANT 871 mentors participated in this study. METHODS Purposeful sampling and online survey was used. RESULTS Three factors (to guide personal growth, promote professional development, and provide psychosocial support) were identified by exploratory factor analysis. The cumulative contribution of variance was 61.03%. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the scale was 0.85, and those of the three subscale's were 0.84, 0.72, and 0.74. The results of discriminant validity showed that mentors who received training and who liked mentoring students scored higher in mentoring behavior. CONCLUSION Mentors considered that mentoring behavior were to guide students' personal growth, promote professional development and provide them with psychosocial support. It will be useful to apply The Mentors' Behavior Scale among mentors to guide and evaluate their behaviors.