A cross-sectional study of drinking patterns, prelicensure nursing education, and professional identity formation

summaryBackground sional identity has been described as being an important outcome of nursing education, but how this identity forms is not well understood. Even less is known about how studentsʹ personal substance use/abuse patterns factor into their professional identity formation. ives rpose of this study was to describe drinking behaviors and professional identity formation among baccalaureate of nursing students. ross-sectional, descriptive study used a survey design. g udy took place on three campuses of a large system university in the Midwestern United States. ipants nvenience sample consisted of 333 students enrolled in the first semester of the second, third, and last year of a traditional baccalaureate of nursing program. s ere collected using the Nurse Self-Concept Questionnaire and the Student Alcohol Questionnaire. ANOVA and Pearson r statistical tests were used to analyze data. s erceptions related to leadership were found to be the weakest aspect of the studentsʹ self-concepts, and the only dimensions of professional self-concept that differed significantly among students enrolled at varying program levels were knowledge and communication. A negative relationship was found between increased alcohol use and general self-concept and communication, but the associations were very weak. sions esearch is needed to understand how best to facilitate the acquisition of an identity consistent with the professionʹs values and how to recruit candidates that embody nursingʹs preferred future.