Caregivers’ well-being in the context of intellectual disability: a systematic review of emotional and health-related needs
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12923/pielxxiw-2026-0020Keywords:
mentoring, moral sensitivity, professional values, caring competence, newly qualified nursesAbstract
CAREGIVERS’ WELL-BEING IN THE CONTEXT OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF EMOTIONAL AND HEALTH-RELATED NEEDS
Aim. The aim of this study was to examine the association between mentoring, understood as support provided to nurses at the beginning of their professional practice and their professional values, moral sensitivity and caring competence.
Material and methods. The study included 576 newly qualified nurses. Data were collected using an author-developed questionnaire and three instruments validated for use in Poland: the Care Ability Inventory, the Nurses’ Professional Values Scale (NPVS-3) and the Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire.
Results. Mentoring, defined by respondents as having a formally assigned individual responsible for introducing them to the workplace (N = 157; 27.3% of the sample), was significantly associated with higher levels of moral sensitivity (p = 0.001) and caring competence (p = 0.001). Nurses who, at the beginning of their professional careers, received support from an assigned ward nurse or a more experienced colleague demonstrated significantly higher levels of these attributes. No significant association was found between mentoring and professional values (p = 0.367). A total of 5.9% of respondents reported receiving no support during the initial period of employment.
Conclusions. Newly qualified nurses who did not receive mentoring support demonstrated lower levels of caring competence than those who were mentored. These findings suggest that mentoring programmes delivered by experienced nurses may support the development of caring competence among newly qualified nurses and potentially contribute to safer patient care.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Ioannis Andriopoulos, Evangelia Kotrotsiou, Alexandra Skitsou, Alexandros Argyriadis, Viky Chrysoula Piletska, Georgios Charalampous (Autor)
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