Investigation and Research on the Present Situation and Related Factors of Professional Identity of Nursing Master Graduates ()
1. Introduction
Graduate education is a high-level education in our country’s education system, which mainly undertakes the function of cultivating senior talents (Yang et al., 2016a; Koo & Kim, 2016; He et al., 2017). The nursing postgraduate education in China has been carried out late since 1990. Although it started late, it has developed rapidly and the enrollment scale has increased year by year. However, a large number of studies have shown that the degree of satisfaction and professional identity of nursing master’s graduates is low (Han et al., 2015; Brayer & Marcinowicz, 2018). Therefore, this study investigates the current status of professional identity of nursing graduates and analyzes the relevant factors affecting their professional identity, which are reported as follows.
2. Information and Methodology
2.1. Sample Size
Design principles for international scales (He et al., 2017). The total number of entries in this study was 28, the sample size was 28 × (5 - 10) = 140,280, and the total sample size was 175 - 350.
2.2. General Information
Selected 320 graduate nursing master graduates from Hubei province as the research object, including the criteria: 1) graduated from Hubei province or household registration in Hubei province; 2) graduated nursing master graduates; 3) volunteered to participate in the survey of this study. Exclusion criteria: 1) type of study is part-time; 2) Ph.D. graduate students; 3) foreign training graduate students. Of these, 21 were men and 299 were women, aged 23 - 29 (26.13 ± 1.72) years, with 1 - 3 (1.66 ± 0.42) years of service.
2.3. Survey Tools
1) Using the nurse professional identity questionnaire (NCIS), a Cronbach’s coefficient of 0.84, the content validity was 0.92, Seven dimensions, 28 entries, likert7 grade, Total 147, the higher the score, the higher the professional identity (Sabatino et al., 2015).
2) The age, sex, title and social status of the subjects were investigated using the general situation questionnaire.
2.4. Survey Methodology
Using on-site questionnaire, e-mail and questionnaire platform survey, using anonymous survey, all the data were examined by the members of the research group, issued 350 points, recovered 320 valid questionnaires, the recovery rate of 91.42%.
2.5. Statistical Analysis
Use SPSS25.0 statistics software to calculate data, “%” for counting data, use x2
test. “±S” represents the measurement data, using the LSD-t test, the influential elements using Logistisc regression analysis. “P ± S” 0.05 indicates the data difference.
3. Result
3.1. Status of Professional Identity
Total (36.11 ± 5.49), the scores of grip (5.62 ± 0.09), self-efficacy (5.54 ± 0.10), sense of meaning (5.51 ± 0.08), self-determination (5.09 ± 0.15), patient impact (4.98 ± 0.12), consistency (4.72 ± 0.13), and tissue impact (4.33, 0.14). See Table 1.
3.2. Assignment of Independent Variables
For the independent variable social status (glory = 1, superior to other occupational = 2, irrespective = 3), occupational risk (very high = 1, bigger = 2, general = 3, a very small = 4), title (with title = 1, no title = 2), age (<25 = 1, ≥25 years = 2), sex (male = 1, female = 2), school achievement (excellent = 1, good = 2, general = 3, bad = 4), class cadre experience (have = 1, no =2) assignment, See Table 2.
3.3. Factors Affecting Professional Identity
Logistisc regression analysis showed that occupational risk, social status and professional title were the main factors affecting their professional identity (P < 0.05). See Table 3.
4. Discussion
For nursing staff, professional identity affects their enthusiasm, initiative and work efficiency of nursing work, and also affects their career planning direction (Baldwin et al., 2014; Hendelman & Byszewski, 2014; Sun et al., 2019). A lower level of professional identity will lead to lower job satisfaction and lower enthusiasm of nursing master graduates, which will affect work efficiency and effectiveness (Iqbal et al., 2015; Yang, 2016). Therefore, it is of practical significance to investigate the professional identity of nursing graduates and analyze the influencing factors.
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Table 1. Score of professional identity for M.Sc. graduate students (n = 320).
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Table 2. Independent variable assignment methods.
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Table 3. Factors affecting professional identity.
According to this study, the total score of professional identity (36.11 ± 5.49) of 320 nursing graduates in Hubei province was slightly lower than the overall level of nursing master graduates in China, suggesting that the degree of professional identity of nursing master graduates in Hubei province was lower. The Logistisc regression analysis showed that professional risk, social status and professional title were the main factors affecting their professional identity (P < 0.05). The results showed that professional risk, social status and professional title could affect the degree of professional identity of nursing graduates (Puthran et al., 2016; Yang et al., 2016b). The higher the risk of nursing career, the lower the degree of job satisfaction and thus the lower the degree of professional identity, while the higher the social status of nursing graduates, the more respected the patients, the more satisfied with their profession and the more satisfied with their current working status (Mama et al., 2016).
Countermeasures to adjust the degree of professional identity of nursing master graduates: 1) Nursing master graduates should correct their mentality, correctly position their own roles, set up reasonable professional expectations, set up correct professional cognition, and attach importance to the career planning education of nursing master graduates to help them develop their potential and realize their own value in the field of nursing. 2) To provide a safe working environment for nursing staff, reduce their work risks and ensure their personal safety and health safety. Hospitals should establish comprehensive evaluation standards for professional titles and improve the system of industry recognition.
5. Outlook
To sum up, the professional identity of graduate nursing master graduates in Hubei Province is low, mainly affected by occupational risk, social status and professional title. The cultivation of professional identity of nursing master’s degree graduates needs to be improved urgently; to help students establish correct professional values, professional awareness and professional attitude; to clarify the development direction, development law and career re-promotion approach of nursing profession; to guide students to correctly understand nursing, understand nursing, and then gradually accept nursing and love nursing specialty. It is of great significance to improve nurses’ professional identity.