Relationship between competency inventory, perceived career benefits, and professional identity among pediatric...

To investigate the relationship between competency inventory, perceived career benefits, and professional identity among pediatric nurses.

A convenience sampling method was used to select 444 pediatric nurses from 10 tertiary hospitals in Hebei Province between June 2023 and August 2023 as the research subjects. The survey was conducted on September 15, 2023, during the morning meetings (nurses who were not on duty that day were surveyed when they returned to work). The China Competency Inventory for Registered Nurses (CIRN), Nurses' Perceived Career Benefits Questionnaire (NPCBQ), and the Professional Identity Scale for Nurses (PISN) were used to assess the competency inventory, perceived career benefits, and professional identity of pediatric nurses, respectively. Bivariate Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the relationship between these variables. Additionally, mediation effect analysis and structural equation modeling were used to test the mediating effect of professional identity between competency inventory and perceived career benefits of pediatric nurses.

The scores of CIRN, NPCBQ, and PISN of 444 pediatric nurses were at a moderate level. The correlation results showed that the competency inventory of pediatric nurses was positively correlated with perceived career benefits and their professional identity. Perceived career benefits were positively correlated with professional identity (r = 0.236, 0.326, 0.444, P < 0.001). The mediation effect analysis indicated that professional identity accounted for 29.08% of the total effect in the relationship between competency inventory and perceived career benefits (the contribution rate of the mediating effect to the total effect: ab/c × 100% = 29.08%). Linear regression analysis showed that competency inventory and perceived career benefit are important factors influencing professional identity.

Professional identity plays a mediating role between pediatric nurses' competency inventory and perceived career benefit. In clinical practice, enhancing nurses' perceived career benefit may improve their professional identity and competency inventory.