Impact of the nurse-related information through social media use on undergraduate nursing students’ professional identity in nursing: A mixed-methods study

Abstract

AimTo understand the impact of nurse-related information, through social media usage on undergraduate nursing students’ professional identity. BackgroundPrevious research has addressed professional knowledge and practice that affect the development of undergraduate nursing students’ professional identities. As an increasingly crucial factor in the internet age, social media needs to be explored in-depth for its influence on the professional identity in nursing. DesignSequential explanatory mixed method was used in this study. MethodsIn this quantitative study, participants (N = 698) completed an e-questionnaire survey between June and July of 2020. The relationship between main variables was analyzed by linear regression using SPSS 20.0. Then, face-to-face semi-structured and audio-recorded interviews were carried out among participants (N = 16) between January and March of 2021. ResultsThe quantitative findings indicated that the mean score of professional identity was 93.07 ± 11.96 in participants. The results of the linear regression showed that the year in school, whether nursing was the first choice, online time per day, frequency of reading official accounts related nursing on WeChat and appraisal of the online nurse-related information and so on explained 49.0 % of the variance in professional identity. Four major themes emerged from the qualitative study: 1) increased concern; 2) few and non-professional information; 3) encouraged by positive information; 4) limited impact of negative information. ConclusionsNurse-related information on social media has the potential to have an impact on undergraduate nursing students’ professional identity. Nursing educators should guide undergraduate nursing students to use social media appropriately and assist them in developing their professional identity with it.