Nurses' perceptions of career growth: A qualitative descriptive study

Career aspiration and influencing factors study of intern nursing students: A latent profile analysis

BACKGROUND

The intensifying global aging population exacerbates the serious shortage of nurses, placing immense pressure on the healthcare system worldwide. Overwhelming workloads, limited career development opportunities, and high turnover rates among nurses compound these challenges. Career aspiration is closely related to individual active work behavior and career orientation, and is significant for stabilizing the nursing team. Identifying different subgroups of career aspiration among intern nursing students and analyzing the influencing factors can provide tailored support and interventions for their career development, contributing to addressing the global nursing shortage and shaping the future of the nursing profession.

AIMS

To identify different subgroups of career aspiration among intern nursing students and to analyze the related factors of the different subgroups.

METHODS

This secondary analysis relied upon a cross-sectional study conducted in China among 521 nursing students during clinical practice. Latent profile analysis was used to identify subgroups of career aspiration among intern nursing students, and multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze factors influencing their career aspiration. The Career Aspiration Scale, General Demographic Information Questionnaire, and the Nursing Students Clinical Practice Poor Adaptation Scale were utilized as measures.

RESULTS

There were four different subgroups of career aspiration, namely the "Moderate career aspiration type (33.7%)", "High leadership expectations-low effort type (11.6%)", "High professional development-low educational aspiration type (28.9%)", "High aspiration multidimensional leader-scholar type (25.8%)". School classification and clinical practice poor adaptation were significantly related factors for the four subgroups (all p < 0.05). Female significantly influenced the "high professional development-low educational aspiration type" (p < 0.001). Students' origin, grade point average, and student leadership experience significantly influenced the "high aspiration multidimensional leader-scholar type" (all p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

This study has identified four distinct subgroups of career aspiration among Chinese intern nursing students and their influencing factors. These findings demonstrate the heterogeneity within the intern nursing student population, provide an effective supplement with a more in-depth analysis to the previous research and underscore the need for tailored educational approaches in clinical practice. By nurturing nursing students' career aspiration, a stable and competent nursing workforce will be cultivated to meet future healthcare demands and propel the advancement of the nursing profession.

Career decisions and aspirations of early-career nurses: Insights from a qualitative interpretative description study

AIM

To explore the career decisions and aspirations of early-career registered nurses in New Brunswick, Canada.

DESIGN

A qualitative study using an interpretive description approach was conducted.

METHODS

Semi-structured one-on-one interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of nurses (n = 22) currently working in New Brunswick, Canada, with up to 5 years of experience from February to April 2022.

RESULTS

Participants described diverse career paths and aspirations. Personal factors affecting these included the desire for meaningful work, career satisfaction, work-life balance, spending time with family, working in a preferred location, and finances. Professionally, working conditions were the dominant factor influencing early-career nurses' career decisions and aspirations. Participants described how short staffing, safety, support, and scheduling influenced their day-to-day work, mental and physical health, job and career satisfaction, and intent to leave.

CONCLUSION

The findings highlighted the abundant and diverse career opportunities available to nurses early in their careers. Early-career nurses are interested in finding nursing positions with a high degree of person-job fit and value opportunities for ongoing professional education and growth.

IMPACT

This study in New Brunswick, Canada, explores early-career nurses' career decisions and aspirations during nursing shortages and the pandemic, emphasizing the importance of person-job fit. Recommendations include improving working conditions and career pathways to enhance the sustainability of the nursing profession.

REPORTING METHOD

Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR).

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

No patient or public contribution.

Nurses' perspectives on professional self-concept and its influencing factors: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Nurses with a strong professional self-concept tend to exhibit a positive mindset and strong work engagement, delivering high-quality patient care. Although numerous quantitative studies have examined the factors impacting professional self-concept, there remains a limited exploration of these factors from the perspective of nurses themselves.

METHODS

This qualitative descriptive study uses the PERMA theory and Social Cognitive Theory as the theoretical framework. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 nurses from six public hospitals in China. The data were analyzed thematically using a combination of inductive and deductive approaches.

RESULTS

Nurses' understanding of professional self-concept could be divided into four categories: professional identity, competence, care, and knowledge. Factors influencing nurses' professional self-concept were categorized into eight subthemes in three domains: (1) personal factors, including psychological qualities and attitude towards the nursing profession; (2) occupational-related behavioral factors, including role-oriented behavior and knowledge-oriented behavior; and (3) work environment and external factors, including external evaluation and perceptions of nurses, time allocation, nursing work tasks, work atmosphere, school education, and perceived supports.

CONCLUSIONS

This study found that, although nurses had different personal experiences, their perceptions of professional self-concept were similar. Nurses' professional self-concept is a multidimensional concept and involves various factors, such as personality, work-related characteristics, environment, and family. To thrive in a nursing career, nurses must discern the factors that can enhance or hinder their professional self-concept. By identifying and adjusting these factors, personalized support and positive interventions can be tailored to meet nurses' specific needs, which ultimately nurtures their professional development.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

This study was registered on December 14, 2022, in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2200066699) as part of our ongoing study.

Status and related factors of professional growth among young nursing talents: a cross-sectional study in China

BACKGROUND

The shortage of nurses has been a global human resources problem. A good professional growth environment is essential to developing potential nursing students and attracting nurses to join, and it has great significance in reducing nurse turnover. However, nurses' comprehensive perceptions of professional growth have not yet been examined.

METHODS

A cluster sampling method was used to conduct a professional growth questionnaire survey on young nursing talents from a large Chinese public tertiary A hospital in March 2022.

RESULTS

The score of professional growth among 243 young nursing talents was 57.92 ± 9.607, with a scoring rate of 77.23%. The scores for dimensions of professional growth, from lowest to highest, were rehabilitation growth, promotion speed, professional goal progress, and professional ability development. Attitudes towards participating in training, service as the quality manager or clinical teacher, self-efficacy, professional title, work-family support, education, and organizational commitment of young nursing talents were significantly associated with professional growth.

CONCLUSION

The professional growth of young nursing talents was at a moderate level and needed to be strengthened. Nursing leaders and managers are expected to develop management practices to enhance young nursing talents' professional growth in combination with the related factors.

Psychological Well-Being of Nurses with One to Five Years of Clinical Experience

Introduction

Nurses are required to fulfill many roles, including expertise, communication, and leadership and are psychologically vulnerable due to lack of manpower, emotional labor, and shift work. Among them, it is necessary to understand the psychological well-being of new nurses and junior nurses who have a high early resignation rate.

Objective

The purpose of this study was to investigate psychological well-being of nurses and compare psychological well-being of nurses from the first to the fifth years of clinical experience.

Methods

Cross-sectional comparative design and purposive sampling method were used. Data were collected from 148 nurses with one to five years of experience working in tertiary care general hospitals. On November 11, 2021, an online link for the structured questionnaire was sent to the group social networking service accounts for nurses. Psychological well-being was assessed using a Korean version of the Scales of Psychological Well-being including autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life, and self-acceptance.

Results

The average psychological well-being of nurses was 194.11, with significant differences depending on years of clinical experience (p = .006, F = 3.82) and satisfaction with nursing (p < .001, F = 13.12). It was lowest at 180.08 in the first year, gradually improving, but falling again from the fourth year. Among five subfactors except positive relations with others (p = .389), psychological well-being was related to clinical experiences years using satisfaction with nursing and religion as covariates.

Conclusions

This study that compared psychological well-being from the first to the fifth year according to clinical experience revealed the need for optimized intervention for each year. Nursing managers can improve the psychological well-being of nurses through active and appropriate intervention according to the passage of nursing experience.

Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Career Growth Scale for Nurses

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to develop the career growth scale for nurses (CGSN) and evaluate its psychometric properties.

METHODS

This study was conducted in four phases: (1) creating a pool of potential items through a qualitative design; (2) developing a preliminary scale using a modified two-round Delphi process; (3) refining the preliminary scale to finalize the scale using a cross-sectional survey; and (4) evaluating the psychometric properties of the final scale using another cross-sectional survey. A sample of 858 registered nurses from 12 general hospitals was recruited for this study.

RESULTS

The final scale consisted of 17 items categorized into three factors: career goal progress, professional ability and attribute improvement, and career promotion and prestige increase. The three factors accounted for 75.4% of the observed variance in career growth. The overall Cronbach's α was .96, and the intraclass correlation coefficient was .92. The content validity index was .97. Confirmatory factor analysis showed acceptable model fitness.

CONCLUSIONS

These results showed that the CGSN has good psychometric properties and can be used to evaluate specific career growth among nurses. This new instrument can further help nurse managers and clinical nurses themselves assess career growth and identify unsatisfactory aspects of growth, thereby designing tailored training programs and evaluating the effectiveness of such interventions.