Status And Influencing Factors Of Career Adaptability Of New Nurses

Objective:Based on the Career Construction Theory,this study explored the status quo,influencing factors and improvement strategies of career adaptability of new nurses.This study aimed to provide theoretical evidence for clinical nursing managers to develop intervention measures to improve career adaptability of new nurses.Method:This study was the convergent-parallel mixed methods research.The quantitative research and the qualitative research were carried out simultaneously,and the results of the two parts were integrated.Quantitative research:This part of the study adopted a cross-sectional design.From January 2022 to June 2022,using convenient sampling method,621 new nurses from hospitals in Shandong Province were selected as research subjects.The data were collected with the demographic sociological characteristics questionnaire,Self-Esteem Scale,Adversity Response Profile,Future Work selfSalience Scale,colleague support scale and Career Adapt-Abilities Scale-Short Form.SPSS 25.0 was used to analyze the data.The specific methods included descriptive analyses,Student’s t-test,one-way analysis of variance,Pearson correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis.Qualitative research:This part of the study adopted the phenomenological research method.From January 2022 to June 2022,this part of the study used purpose sampling and snowball sampling method to select new nurses,colleagues and nursing managers from three tertiary grade-A hospitals in Jinan,Shandong Province for semi-structured interviews.The data were analyzed by thematic analysis method of Braun and Clarke.Extracted the themes of influencing factors and improvement strategies for career adaptability of new nurses.Results:1.The status quo of career adaptability of new nursesThe total score of career adaptability of new nurses was(45,80±5.79),among which the scores of each dimension were:career concern(11.38±2.01),career control(11.05± 1.52),career curiosity(11.68±2.00),career confidence(11.69± 1.81).2.Differences in demographic sociological characteristics of career adaptability of new nursesThe results of one-way analysis of variance showed that the difference in the scores of career adaptability of new nurses in different health status was statistical significance(P<0.05).3.The correlation among self-esteem,adversity quotient,future work self-salience,colleague support and career adaptability of new nursesPearson correlation analysis showed that self-esteem,adversity quotient,future work selfsalience and colleague support were significantly positively correlated with career adaptability of new nurses(r=0.177～0.910,all P<0.01),among which,career adaptability was significantly positively correlated with self-esteem(r=0.321,P<0.01),adversity quotient(r=0.507,P<0.01),future work self-salience(r=0.563,P<0.01),and colleague support(r=0.460,P<0.01)were significantly positively correlated.4.Multiple linear regression analysis of career adaptability of new nursesThe results of multiple linear regression analysis showed that self-esteem,adversity quotient,future work self-salience and colleague support entered the regression equation and jointly explain for 46%of the total variation in career adaptability of new nurses.5.Qualitative research resultsThe influencing factors of career adaptability of new nurses include four themes(individual traits,individual perception,work-related stress,low occupational career focus)and 11 sub-themes.Strategies to improve the career adaptability of new nurses include four themes(self-improvement,self-adjustment,social support,work readiness and career exploration)and 11 sub-themes.6.Integrated results of mixed methods researchThe integration results showed that self-esteem and confidence,adversity quotient and ability to withstand pressure,future work self-salience and low occupational career focus were consistent.Personality,individual perception,health status,work-related stress,and colleague support were supplemented each other.Conclusion:1.The career adaptability of new nurses is above the middle level.Among the four dimensions,the scores of career curiosity and career confidence are the highest,followed by career concern and career control.2.Health status,self-esteem,adversity quotient,future work self-salience,colleague support,personality,individual perception and work-related stress are the influencing factors of career adaptability of new nurses.3.Strategies to improve the career adaptability of new nurses include four themes:selfimprovement,self-adjustment,social support,work readiness and career exploration.