[Professional self concept]

With health care restructuring, nurses must constantly adapt to a changing work environment. Over time, these profound and sustained changes create a prolonged state of stress that can be detrimental to their health. Nurses who view themselves positively on a professional level seem to be better able to adapt to many changing work requirements. This professional self-concept seems to influence not only the nurse's capacity to adapt to these many work requirements, but also influences his or her health in the workplace. In this article, the authors undertake a critical analysis of the literature that enables them to highlight the main attributes of nurses' professional self-concept.