Is Professional Self-concept Associated With Stress Among Nursing Students in Clinical Setting: A Descriptive Correlational Research

Objectives: Professional self-concept is the individual’s perception of himself/herself as a professional person. Stress is considered a common phenomenon in nursing education due to the nature of clinical environments. However, the relationship between these two variables is unclear in the review of the literature. Accordingly, this study aimed to assess the correlation between professional self-concept and stress among nursing students in clinical environments. Materials and Methods: The present descriptive correlational study was conducted, between the second and the eighth semesters, on 154 nursing students who were selected using the stratified random sampling technique. Based on the purpose of the study, the Cowin’s 36-item questionnaire of professional self-concept and Cohen’s perceived stress scale (PSS) were used to collect the required data. Finally, data were analyzed by SPSS using the Pearson correlation coefficient (or Spearman correlation coefficient in case of non-normality of the variables). Results: The overall mean score of professional self-concept in nursing students was 210.80 ± 37.41. In addition, the highest and lowest scores were related to the seventh and second semesters, respectively. Further, the correlation coefficient of the total score of professional self-concept with the total score of stress was equal to -0.31, which is considered significant (P < 0.001). Conclusions: In general, a statistically significant correlation was observed between the professional self-concept and stress among the nursing students. In other words, a higher professional self-concept was associated with a reduction in the level of stress. Therefore, lower professional self-concept can be one of the possible causes of stress among the students. As a result, designing and implementing interventions are considered essential in promoting professional self-concept among nursing students.