The influence of professional identity on the process of nurses' training: an empirical study

Purpose – This paper aims to analyze the relationship between professional identity and the training of nurses in the context of change. Specifically, this study aims to focus on two research questions: first, how do nurses experience their professional identity? Second, will professional training have an effect on nurses' developing identity?Design/methodology/approach – Data were obtained from 173 nurses in a Portuguese hospital. Respondents had to evaluate the degree of importance they gave to several variables about professional identity and training. For data analysis and reliability, the variables were classified using factor analysis. Subsequently, the retained factors and variables underwent multiple regression analysis.Findings – Results indicate that nurses consider they have their own identity, which differentiates them from other health professionals, although they feel their work still lacks socio‐professional recognition, which hinders their autonomous intervention within the multi‐disciplin...