Damaged professional identity as a barrier to Iranian nursing students’ clinical learning: a qualitative study

Abstract

Background and aims: Damaged nurses’ professional identity is caused dissatisfaction for nursing students in learning environment. Then, their behavioral disorders will be weak clinic care function, motivation decrease, a little attempting for learning in nursing care and a low pleasure in learning environment. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of professional identity on nursing students’ clinical learning. Methods: In this analytic-discriptive study, a purposive sample of 25 nursing students was selected from the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery of Tehran and Shahid Beheshti Universities. Data were collected using the semi- structured interview method. Study data were analyzed by employing the conventional qualitative content analysis approach. Results: The current findings fell into one main theme entitled damaged professional identity. This theme consisted of two categories: ‘trampled individual and social status’ and ‘nurses’ inability to make their voices heard’. Conclusion: Nursing educators and managers can use the study findings to develop strategies for promoting students professional identity and clinical learning using damaged professional identity model.

Keywords

• social identity
• care function
• nursing students
• learning
• individual and social status