Construction of professional identity in nursing students: qualitative research from the historical-cultural perspective

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.3820.3284%20

Keywords:

Nursing Students, Nursing Education, Baccalaureate Nursing, Nursing Education Research, Social Learning, Human Development, Qualitative Research

Abstract

Objective: to analyze the process of professional identity construction in undergraduate nursing students during their education. Method: qualitative research, anchored in the Historical-Cultural framework. Twenty-three undergraduate nursing students took part. Data were collected through individual interviews, with a semi-structured script. Thematic Analysis was used to analyze the data. Results: the following four themes were obtained, “The subject in movement to become a nurse: from previous experiences to entering the courses”; “The nursing professor in the construction of the undergraduate’s professional identity: a two-way mirror”; “Pedagogical relationship: instrument for constructing the student’s professional identity” and “Historical-cultural conditions: space for the construction of the student’s professional identity”. Conclusion: the construction of the students’ professional identity is limited to the material conditions of existence, translating appropriation to the intrapsychic scope of elements that occur, first, in the inter-psychological space of interactions. Nursing professors can become a paradoxical mirror, with one face to be imitated and the other, which materializes meanings of a model not to be followed. This construction is also influenced by the conditions of professional practice and university education.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Published

2020-02-23

Issue

Section

Original Articles

How to Cite

Construction of professional identity in nursing students: qualitative research from the historical-cultural perspective. (2020). Revista Latino-Americana De Enfermagem, 28, e3284. https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.3820.3284