Associated factors of professional identity among nursing undergraduates during COVID-19: A cross-sectional study

Professional identity plays an important role in the long-term development of nurses, and it will change when public health emergency occurs. The objective of this study is to investigate the factors associated with the professional identity of nursing undergraduates in the epidemic of COVID-19.

A cross-sectional survey design with convenience sampling was used. A total of 3,875 nursing undergraduates were recruited from seven universities across China from March to April 2020. A general information questionnaire was used to collect students' information, and the Professional Identity Questionnaire for Nurse Students was used to survey their professional identity during the early and later stages of the first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic.

The score of professional identity in the later stage (59.49 ± 12.41) was higher than that in the early stage (56.96 ± 12.61). The stepwise regression indicated that several factors were associated with professional identity, including gender, residential area, major, impact of the epidemic on intention to work after graduation, reasons for choosing nursing major and students' scores of professional identity in early stage.

Nursing educators can utilize the positive impact of responding to public health emergencies to increase the professional identity of students. Meanwhile, educators should give those students with lower professional identity more targeted education to cultivate their professional identity after the occurrence of public health emergencies.