The Effect of Acute Stress Response on Professional Identity and Self-Efficacy of Nursing Students in China During Covid-19 Outbreak：a Cross-Sectional Study

Background: During the rapidly evolving situation of COVID-19, the external environment and job stress may influence the professional identity and self-efficacy of nursing students An assessment of professional identity, self-efficacy, and acute stress reponse of nursing students during the coronavirus outbreak, as well as the effect of acute stress response on them is necessary and badly needed Objective: To evaluate the nursing students’ professional identity, self-efficacy, and acute stress response during the COVID-19 outbreak, and to investigate the effect of acute stress response on nursing students’ professional identity and self-efficacy Design, settings, and participants: Assessment of professional identity, self-efficacy and acute stress response were designed for this cross-sectional study A total of 2024 nursing students from Shanxi Medical University completed the questionnaire used in this study Methods: The online questionnaire, including personal characteristics, professional identity questionnaire of nursing students (PIQNS), generalized self-efficacy scale (GSES) and Stanford acute stress response scale questionnaire (SASRQ), was utilized for the measurement Results: The total score of and sub-scales’ score of professional identity of nursing students significantly increased after the COVID-19 outbreak (p<0 001) Additionally, self-efficacy had a positive effect on professional identity (p<0 001) while acute stress response had a negative effect on professional identity and self-efficacy, respectively (p<0 001) Conclusion: The results of this study provide insights into the effect of acute stress response on professional identity and self-efficacy of nursing students during COVID-19 outbreak in China Nursing education must be oriented to help strength the professional identity of nursing students from this emergence