Literature review of the research on nursing students’ professional self-concept

Abstract

Objective To understand the current situation and progress of nursing students’ professional self-concept, this review aimed to perform a general analysis of research related to the connotation of professional self-concept, measurement tools, influencing factors, effects, and intervention experiments. Methods Three databases (Web of Science, PubMed, and CNKI) were searched for relevant articles. Research articles that met specific criteria were included, with identified articles initially screened by title and keyword. Then the abstracts were screened for relevance, and the full text was read for validation before inclusion. Descriptive analysis was performed with relevant findings from data retrieved from various sources. Results Finally, 54 articles that met the criteria were included, which organised the connotation of self-concept of nursing speciality, and introduced six measurement scales, such as Professional Self-Concept of Nurses Instrument and Nurse’s Self-Concept Questionnaire. A total of 16 investigations on influencing factors were described, and the results showed that there were internal individual and external environmental factors. The professional self-concept was formed by analysing both factors. This paper described 17 effect surveys and found that professional self-concept had an important impact on students’ mental health, academic performance, and professional values, and so on. Eight intervention experiments including attribution training and hierarchical teaching were evaluated. Conclusions Research articles on the professional self-concept included in this review were rich. These articles clarified the basic connotation of the concept, developed relatively mature measurement tools, found many influencing factors and effects, and proposed effective intervention strategies. They were of great value for understanding the professional self-concept and could provide a reference for scholars to conduct relevant research and practice. It also presents research prospects in this field, aiming to inspire future research.

The relevance of nurses’ self-concept in the social exchange process: a serial mediation model

“…Furthermore, in a study performed in Korea, Jeon and Koh (2017) found a positive effect of nurses' self-concept on their overall OCB. Recent research shows that nursesself-concept positively affects professional quality, academic performance and patient safety attitudes (Xu et al, 2023). In conclusion, these arguments suggest that nurses' self-concept mediates the relationship between POS and OCB directed toward different targets.…”

“…This study used SET as a theoretical framework to explain how a positive initiating action, such as POS, can enhance positive employee responses, including greater commitment, OCB (Cropanzano et al, 2017) and a sense of competence in a specific domain (Eisenberger et al, 2020). Additionally, we used the expectancy-value model to explain how nurses' self-concept affects relational and behavioral social exchange outcomes (Cowin et al, 2008;Xu et al, 2023), such as OCB and affective commitment. Figure 1 illustrates the theoretical framework that underpins this study.…”

“…Additionally, we used the expectancy–value model to explain how nurses’ self-concept affects relational and behavioral social exchange outcomes (Cowin et al. , 2008; Xu et al. , 2023), such as OCB and affective commitment.…”

“…Although some self-perceptions share similar definitions, such as self-concept, self-efficacy, self-esteem and core self-evaluation (Marsh and Perry, 2005;Kammeyer-Mueller et al, 2009), we consider that self-concept is more appropriate for our research because it refers to a very specific domain and represents ones perception of confidence in a certain area, for instance, a profession (Bong and Skaalvik, 2003). Moreover, nursesself-concept is a variable designed specifically for the nursing profession (Angel et al, 2012;Xu et al, 2023) and it is a relevant factor in understanding the relational and behavioral outcomes of nurses, since it is closely related to vocational development and professional identity, which are key issues in the nursing field (Hoeve et al, 2014;Randle and Arthur, 2007).…”

Perception of the professional self-image by Polish nurses and midwives. Cross-cultural adaptation and assessment of psychometric properties of the Belimage questionnaire

“…The decision regarding the choice of instrument was governed by the European origin thereof, since cross-border studies have demonstrated signi cant differences in the image of nurses coming from different cultures, and study methods often do not take into account cultural differences. 17,18 2. Materials and Methods…”