Professional Identity Scale for Male Nursing Students Using the Rasch Model and Latent Regression on Gender and Background Variables

Abstract

This study developed a professional identity (PI) scale and compared the scores of male and female nursing students. Few studies have focused on male nursing students to understand their PI vis-à-vis related background variables relative to female ones. We recruited 384 male nursing students in Taiwan to construct the PI scale based on the Rasch model with 12 items and 3 factors, namely cognitive, emotional, and behavioural identity. The PI scale showed a good model fit in confirmatory factor analysis, with factor loadings ranging from 0.56 to 0.73. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranged from 0.72 to 0.79 for the three subscales and 0.88 for the entire scale. The results of the multiple latent regression analyses showed that male nursing students had higher PI in the total scale and its three factors than did female ones. Having mothers with medical or nursing-related jobs may help promote the cognitive PI of male nursing students. Experiences of caring for family members can help promote PI among female nursing students but not among male ones. Future research should focus on decreasing loss in behavioural PI for both genders after graduation and on reinforcing the association between behavioural PI and interest in nursing among male nursing students.

Subgroups of perceived professional preparedness of senior nursing students and their differences in professional identity: a latent profile analysis

“…Latent pro les of perceived professional preparedness of senior nursing students. Items (1-5) for clinical competency, items (6-10) for evidence-based practice, items (11)(12)(13)(14) for framework-oriented performance, and items (15)(16)(17)(18)(19) for patient-centered care.…”

“…Professional Identity (PI) is another factor we explored. PI is the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral identi cation of nursing students with the nursing profession they will be working in and with their current identity as a nursing student [17] . Previous studies have identi ed a change in professional identity due to the COVID-19 pandemic as an in uential factor in nursing students' work preparedness [18] .…”

Tools for Assessing Professional Identity in Health Profession Education: A Scoping Review

“…Such studies were not included in our research [82]. In this study, only tools such as standard inventories or Repertory grids [46], scales or questionnaires [28,33,34,44,45,47,48,[51][52][53]55] and open essays [12,50] were included. Psychometrics of these instruments were either conducted in the study or were performed in future studies for the same target group or another one.…”