Influence of Professional Self-concept and Self-leadership on Clinical Competence in Nursing Students

Purpose: This study was done in order to identify nursing students' professional self-concept, self-leadership and clinical competence and to analyze the correlation among the variables and the factors influencing clinical competence. Methods: The research participants were 294 senior nursing students in the nursing departments of 3 universities located in Jeollabuk-do. The students had completed 3 semesters of clinical practice. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and Multiple Regression. Results: Participants' scores for professional self-concept, self-leadership, clinical competence were 2.780.36, 3.630.47, 3.800.40 respectively. Professional self-concept, self-leadership and clinical competence had positive correlations. Factors influencing nursing students' clinical competence included professional self-concepts in professional practice, self-expectations in self-leadership, constructive thinking, self-compensation and self-criticism in that order, and these variables explained 48% of the variance in clinical competence. Conclusion: Based on these results, it is important to develop and apply educational programs to increase professional self-concept and self-leadership in order to improve nursing students' clinical competence.