The Relationship Between Professional Identity and School Adjustment Among Nursing Students in a Five-Year Consecutive Training Course

This study examines the effect of nursing students’ school adjustment on their professional identity using data from students of a five-year consecutive training course at a nursing high school and advanced course high school. Data were collected from 391 student nurses in the first to fifth years of the program, aged 15 to 20 years old, in March 2015. The students were asked to fill out a questionnaire that included items about their professional nursing identity, three occupational identity status tests (wavering and hesitation about becoming a nurse, confidence and commitment in selecting the occupation of nurse, and being qualification-oriented), the Adaptation Scale for School Environments on Six Spheres (general satisfaction, teacher support, friends’ support, anti-bullying relationship, prosocial skills, and academic adaptation), and questions about demographic variables. The results of a multivariate analysis of variance showed that the students who had more “confidence and commitment in selecting the occupation of nurse” and were more “qualification-oriented” had statistically significant higher professional nursing identity scores. Moreover, professional nursing identity was developed among the students who had more anti-bullying relationships and more prosocial skills. To develop students’ professional nursing identity more effectively, nursing school teachers need to support the students’ school life, such as by promoting better student relationships with friends and teachers to promote social acceptance and friendship, preventing bullying, and building a safe, secure, and welcoming school environment