Professional Identity in Graduating Nursing Students

A study on the professional identity intervention of Chinese new nurses by Balint groups from the perspective of ABC theory of emotion-hong

OBJECTIVE

To explore the intervention effect of ABC theory on the professional identity and irrational beliefs of new Chinese nurses in Balint groups (BGs).

METHODS

A total of 110 Chinese nurses newly recruited in August 2021 by a grade-A tertiary general hospital in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province were adopted as research objects. They were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group, the experimental group spread out in groups to practice the BGs, and the control group did not have any intervention. Before and after the intervention, the Chinese nurses were assessed with a general information questionnaire, nurses' professional identity rating scale, and irrational beliefs rating scale.

RESULTS

After the intervention, the scores of Chinese nurses' professional identity in the experimental group and the control group were 115.51 ± 14.03 and 106.58 ± 14.45 respectively, belonging to the middle level, and the scores of Chinese nurses' irrational beliefs in the two groups were 49.33 ± 12.30 and 59.98 ± 13.10 respectively, and the differences were both statistically significant (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Introducing the ABC theory of emotion into BG can reduce irrational beliefs and enhance the professional identity of Chinese new nurses.

Nursing Professional Identity: A Critical Review of the Concept Amidst COVID-19

Heroism is an immutable and quintessential part of what gives rise to the phenomenon that is nurse. This altruistic discourse comes with profound consequences for the nursing profession, particularly in relation to nursing's professional identity. This critical review explores nursing's professional identity against the backdrop of gendered and heroic discourses. Two concept analyses of nursing's professional identity are critically reviewed and juxtaposed with literature on the topic amidst COVID-19. Using poststructural feminism and critical discourse analysis, the review provides valuable insights into the evolutionary significance of the concept and raises key questions around knowledge-power structures and discursive constructions of nurse.

Professional identity in nursing: Why it is important in graduate education

Possessing a clear identity in nursing is a guiding principle to professional comportment. In graduate nursing education, transitioning and expanding one's professional identity requires role evolution. Nurses transitioning into the advanced professional nursing role shifts their thinking to a new level. The Conceptual Model of Professional Identity in Nursing constitutes how values and ethics, knowledge, nurse as a leader, and professional comportment are intertwined. Competency-based education requires curricular redesign. The Essentials Tool Kit aligns The Essentials with learning activities to support competency-based curriculum and assessment. The Douglass and Stager Toolkit intertwines these resources for graduate nursing educators to inform professional identity in nursing for curriculum revisions. This article aims to illustrate how faculty educate graduate nursing students in the development of professional identity using a conceptual framework to achieve competencies outlined in The Essentials (AACN, 2021).

Nursing students' movement toward becoming a professional caring nurse

BACKGROUND

Previous research mainly focuses on how to support nursing students in caring for the patient and on educators' views of students' development as professional caring nurses. Against this background, it is important to further investigate nursing students' perspectives on what it means to become a professional caring nurse.

RESEARCH AIM

This qualitative systematic review study aims to identify and synthesize nursing students' perceptions on the meaning of becoming a caring nurse.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND DATA SOURCES

Systematic data searches were conducted by using the electronic databases MEDLINE (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCO), Academic Search Premiere (EBSCO), and Philosopher`s Index. In total, 13 studies met the inclusion and quality criteria. The articles were analyzed by a systematic review and a thematic synthesis according to Thomas and Harden.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATION

The study followed good ethical practice guidelines outlined in the Northern Nurses' Federation.

FINDINGS

The analysis resulted in eight descriptive themes and finally in three analytical themes: Becoming is to get in touch with one's inner ethic or ethos, Becoming is a movement between courage, understanding, and being touched, and Becoming is strengthened through caring role models and a learning culture.

CONCLUSIONS

Becoming a professional caring nurse is seen as an ongoing movement toward a deeper understanding of oneself and one's being and bearing. This movement is enabled when nursing students have a sense of self-awareness, courage to stand in their vulnerability, and reflect on their responsibility, caring attitude, and inner values and ethics. The force of becoming is that the attention is directed beyond self to care for and feel empathy for others in a caring manner. Becoming is released through a caring relationship, external confirmation, and good role models. A lack of external support in the movement can potentially prevent the students from becoming a professional caring nurse.

"Safety Means Everything": An ethnographic methodology to explore the formation of professional identity in nursing students

AIM

The aim of this qualitative study is to explore how various conditions within educational contexts impact nursing students' experiences of becoming professional nurses and how these conditions affect their agency and the formation of their professional identities.

BACKGROUND

Nursing education is essential to becoming professional and competent in caring for patients. A strong professional identity in nursing contributes to better patient outcomes and improves the well-being, retention, and recruitment of practitioners in the health care system. At the same time, research indicates that development of a professional identity during education is challenging and needs further investigation.

DESIGN

The qualitative research design draws on the theoretical and methodological framework of critical psychology practice research. The practice research design and close collaboration with users ensure the continuous development and implementation of theory and practice.

METHODS

The data used in this study originated from ethnographic fieldwork, which involved following two nursing students through their final clinical placement training at the Geriatric Department of a university hospital in Denmark. Additionally, nursing students in two classes were observed as part of their nursing education practice at a university college from April to July 2022. The participant observational design, combined with in-situ interviewing, facilitated a comprehensive understanding of the students' engagement in social practices and interactions within the context of nursing education.

RESULTS

Our results show how the conditions of nursing students' everyday lives have a critical impact on their self-understanding and journey to becoming competent and professional nurses. Three main themes emerged from the analysis: (1) Perception of safety, (2) Motivation for learning in different communities of practice, and (3) The meaning of learning culture and role models.

CONCLUSION

The development of nursing students into professionals is profoundly influenced by factors affecting their ontological safety that are deeply embedded in socio-cultural and educational contexts. The results underscore the need to foster ontological safety in nursing education. Creating safe, participatory, and supportive learning environments is essential to the holistic development of students into caring, competent nurses. Educators and stakeholders must remember their crucial role in this context and focus on establishing these environments to facilitate students' sense of belonging in the nursing profession.

TWEETABLE ABSTRACT

The development of professional identity in nursing starts with safety. Ontological Safety in learning environments ensures competent and professional nurses. #NursingEducation#Safety#ProfessionalIdentity.

Identity conflicts of student affairs officers in a medical university

INTRODUCTION

Collaboration between student affairs officers and the faculty is important in dealing with the recent rapid changes in medical education, and mutual understanding is essential to ensure that participants become a cohesive social group. This study explores the identity conflicts of student affairs officers in medical universities using the figured worlds theory.

METHODS

An exploratory qualitative case study was conducted with 24 student affairs officers at a private medical university in Japan. Data were collected through face-to-face, semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis from the perspective of a social constructivism paradigm.

RESULTS

Qualitative analysis revealed the following three themes regarding the identity conflicts of student affairs officers: differences in the perception of medical students, difficulties in building trusting relationships with the faculty, and resistance to the medical university's traditional atmosphere. Student affairs officers tended to provide support from a student-centred perspective when interacting with medical students, while the faculty employed a teacher-centred perspective.

DISCUSSION

To promote understanding between professions, it is necessary to set aside certain professional views and welcome dialogue with other professionals with different values, while also understanding the multi-layered context of medical education, so that conflicts can be handled optimally and relationships can be professionalised for social cohesion.

Does interpersonal self-support matter for freshman nursing students' professional identity? Evidence from mainland China

Background

Many studies have focused on undergraduate nursing students' professional identity (PI), but freshman nursing students (FNSs) have been ignored, and the relationship between interpersonal self-support (ISS) and PI is unknown. This study was designed to determine the patterns of ISS and its association with PI among Chinese FNSs.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 358 FNSs recruited from two nursing colleges in southeast China. Students completed the Sociodemographic Characteristics Questionnaire, the Interpersonal Self-Support Scale for Adolescent Students, and the Professional Identity Questionnaire for Nurse Students. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to determine the patterns of ISS among freshmen. The Bolck-Croon-Hagenaars method was used to examine the influencing role of ISS in PI.

Results

LPA indicated that ISS could be classified into three subgroups: the ISS-Individualist group (7.54% of the total sample), ISS-Dependent group (63.13% of the total sample), and ISS-Extrovert group (29.33% of the total sample). Overall, these three profiles differed significantly in the five dimensions of ISS and PI (p < 0.05). The results of pairwise comparisons examined the positive role of the ISS-Extrovert group on the promotion of PI among FNSs.

Conclusion

These findings emphasize the need for the promotion of PI and ISS among Chinese FNSs. Freshman students need more confidence and general communication knowledge to maintain harmonious social relationships with others. Parent-teacher association could be applied to nursing education to guide FNSs' positive development of ISS.

Mediating effects of psychological capital on the relationship between workplace violence and professional identity among nurses working in Chinese public psychiatric hospitals: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE

To examine the relationship between workplace violence (WPV) and professional identity among Chinese psychiatric nurses and the mediating effects of psychological capital (PsyCap) from this association.

SETTING

Seven public tertiary psychiatric hospitals in Liaoning Province, China.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 952 psychiatric nurses were recruited for this study. Registered nurses who have been engaged in psychiatric nursing for more than 1 year were eligible as participants in this investigation.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Questionnaires consisting of the Workplace Violence Scale, the Occupational Identity Scale, the Psychological Capital Questionnaire and a demographic data sheet were used to collect participant information. We used hierarchical multiple regression and asymptotic and resampling strategies to examine the mediating role of PsyCap in the relationship between WPV and professional identity.

RESULTS

WPV was negatively associated with professional identity after controlling for demographic factors (β=-0.353; p<0.001). PsyCap mediated the relationship between WPV and professional identity, according to the mediation analysis (a×b=-0.150, bias-corrected and accelerated 95% CI (BCa 95% CI) (-0.185 to -0.115); p<0.001). In addition, two dimensions of PsyCap: hope (a×b=-0.075, BCa 95% CI (-0.104 to -0.049); p<0.001) and resilience (a×b=-0.064, BCa 95% CI (-0.090 to -0.039); p<0.001) mediated the association between WPV and professional identity. For professional identity, hope, resilience and PsyCap mediation accounted for 21.6%, 18.1% and 42.4%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on these findings, PsyCap could partially mediate the relationship between WPV and professional identity. Therefore, hospital administrators should implement measures to prevent and reduce WPV and provide nurses with skills training programmes to improve the PsyCap such as hope and resilience.

Factors influencing the professional identity of nursing interns: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Improving the professional identity of nursing intern is significant for enhancing the number of new registered nurses and easing the shortage of nursing personnel. The clinical internship is a key period for the formulation of professional identity. However, we know little about the factors influencing the nursing interns' professional identity during clinical internship. Therefore, this study explore the influencing factors of nursing interns' professional identity during clinical internship. This study will provide evidence and suggestions for generating effective strategies contributing to professional identity improvement of nursing interns.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study. The convenience sampling was used to recruit 398 nursing interns from a teaching hospital in Hunan, China. The demographic characteristics information was collected by a self-developed questionnaire. The nursing interns' professional identity and potential influencing factors (e.g., work atmosphere, teacher capacity) were measured by questionnaires with good psychometric properties. The appropriate indicators were used for descriptive statistics, and t test, analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation analysis and multiple linear regression were used to analyse the influencing factors.

RESULTS

In this study, the influencing factors of nursing interns' professional identity are education level, first choice of major, residential status, work atmosphere, and teacher capacity. The results showed that: (1) the nursing interns with a higher education level reported a lower level of professional identity; (2) the nursing interns whose first choice of major was not nursing discipline reported a lower level of professional identity; (3) the nursing interns live in rural areas (compared to urban areas) reported a higher level of professional identity; (4) the nursing interns in better work atmosphere reported a higher level of professional identity; (5) the nursing interns under the guidance of the teachers equipped with better teaching capacity reported a higher level of professional identity.

CONCLUSION

The education level, first choice of major and residential status are influence factors of nursing interns' professional identity. The nursing educators need to pay attention to nursing interns whose first choice is not nursing, and in a bachelor program, who may have a lower level of professional identity. It is crucial to enhance the nursing interns' professional identity by improve the work atmosphere and clinical teachers' capacity, to promote nursing interns to choose nursing as a profession and reduce the shortage of nursing workforce.

The role of self-efficacy in mediating between professional identity and self-reported competence among nursing students in the internship period: A quantitative study

AIM

This study explored the relationship between self-efficacy, professional identity and competence among nursing students and analyzed the mediating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between professional identity and competence.

BACKGROUND

Increasing attention has been paid to the cultivation of competence among nursing students; however, few studies to date have analyzed its related factors and examined their relationship.

DESIGN

A quantitative study with a descriptive design was performed in this study, adopting an online survey with convenience and snowball sampling. A cross-sectional sample of 887 nursing students in the internship period of their education program in mainland China was recruited from November to December 2020.

METHODS

The Nursing Students Competence Instrument, Professional Identity Questionnaire for Nurse Students and General Self-efficacy Scale were distributed online. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, structural equation modeling (SEM) and the bootstrap method were employed in data analysis.

RESULTS

Competence was significantly and positively correlated with professional identity (r = 0.598; P < 0.01) and self-efficacy (r = 0.692; P < 0.01). SEM analysis revealed that professional identity (β = 0.31; P < 0.01) or self-efficacy (β = 0.31; P < 0.01) could have a positive impact on competence. Meanwhile, self-efficacy played a mediating role in the relationship between professional identity and competence, with an indirect effect of professional identity creation through self-efficacy accounting for 52% of the total effect.

CONCLUSIONS

Self-efficacy mediates the relationship between professional identity and competence to some extent. School educators and clinical tutors should pay greater attention to students' professional identity and self-efficacy to improve students' competence.

Fostering the development of professional identity within healthcare education-interdisciplinary innovation

INTRODUCTION

Historical theories on development of professionalism are no longer sufficient in modern radiation therapy or radiography curricula with the focus moving from 'virtues-based professionalism' to 'professional identity formation'. Professional identity formation is a new concept that is described as a transformative journey from being a layperson to 'becoming' a professional. Knowledge, values, and behaviours are transformative and unique to each individual. The overall aim is to produce a consensus statement outlining evidence based programme initiatives to support healthcare students' professional identity formation.

METHODS

'Think tank' methodology was used for individual and final combined group reflective tasks to enable the creation of an evidenced based consensus statement. Participants discussed their personal views and beliefs regarding the process of Professional Identity Formation for teaching, learning, assessment, and evaluation. Discussions were recorded, transcribed, and analysed using thematic analysis from an interpretivist perspective. 'Think Tank' participants were asked to attend masterclasses to gain a greater understanding of professional identity formation from leading experts before the final combined 'Think Tanks'.

RESULTS

Faculty and students across all Disciplines (N22) within the school of medicine attended the 'Think Tank' sessions.

DISCUSSION

During each student's transformative process of professional identity formation, healthcare educators need to create evidence based pedagogic opportunities to support them. It is no longer sufficient to leave to chance within a 'hidden' or 'informal' curriculum. Professional identity is more than a set of learned behaviours that are assessed within the clinical environment.

CONCLUSION

The development of this consensus statement is an innovative educational strategy that will ultimately enhance the education of professionalism in the clinical environment for radiographers and radiation therapists. Through seeking an understanding of the educational needs of students and faculty, the multidisciplinary team were able to create a tailored approach to professional identity formation within the institution. This student-faculty partnership is unique and beneficial to all parties involved and is an effective method of seeking a shared understanding.