Development of the professional competence and professional self-concept of undergraduate nursing students during the clinical practice period: A cross-lagged panel analysis

Aim: To explore the relationship of the development of professional competence and professional self-concept of undergraduate nursing students during the clinical practice period.Background: Clinical practice is one of the most important aspects of nursing education. Nursing students combine theoretical knowledge, psychomotor skills and emotions in a professional socialization process through clinical practice sessions.Design: A two-time point longitudinal design was performed. A cross-lagged model was employed to analyze the relationship between the development of professional competence and professional self-concept of undergrad-uate nursing students during their clinical practice period.Methods: A total of 210 undergraduate nursing students were included in this study. The questionnaire was distributed two months and six months after their clinical practice started. Professional Self Concept of Nurses Instrument and Professional Competence Scale for Undergraduate Nursing Students were the two main instruments. Results: Both the professional competence and professional self-concept of Undergraduate nursing students in-crease at the end of the sixth month compared with the end of the second month after their clinical practice started. The results of the cross-lagged analysis showed that the professional self-concept was partially respon-sible for the development of professional competence. The effect of professional competence on the development of professional self-concept, in contrast, was not found in this study.Conclusions: Clinical nursing educators should pay greater attention to the development of the professional self -concept of undergraduate nursing students. More attention should be paid to creating a supportive clinical learning environment to facilitate the improvement of undergraduate nursing students' professional self-concept and professional competence.