Constructing professional identity during the COVID-19 Pandemic: the student nurse perspective.

Roll, Coralie (2024) Constructing professional identity during the COVID-19 Pandemic: the student nurse perspective. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

This thesis explored factors shaping professional identity construction as perceived by student nurses studying during the COVID-19 pandemic. A strong individual professional identity supports career longevity, maintaining the values, beliefs, and culture of the profession. Understanding how periods of significant and widespread disruption in healthcare influences the process of professional identity construction of student nurses has significance for nurse education.

Charmaz’ Constructivist Grounded Theory methodology guided this study, advancing theoretical understanding of the process of professional identity construction of student nurses during this challenging period. Archer’s Human Agency theory and Bandura's Social Cognitive theory theoretically framed the study, considering the interplay of individual agency, structural forces, and the ways these impacted participant attempts to construct a professional identity.

Twelve student nurses from three undergraduate nursing cohorts participated in six focus groups, undertaken when participants were in theory and practice blocks of learning, over a 14-month period during the COVID-19 pandemic. Vignettes and mass media imagery were used as trigger material to elicit in-depth discussion. Data were analysed using Constructivist Grounded Theory methods.

The findings suggest that workforce shortages, policies, and processes limit student nurses’ scope of practice and challenge their relationships with nurse role models. Being frequently deployed as health care assistants influences their perceptions of the status and value of the student nurse role in clinical practice, and as future nurse professionals. The emerging Grounded Theory proposes that student nurses actively engage in a process of reshaping their expectations of being a student nurse, of role models, and of the qualified nursing role, to make sense of intense and challenging experiences and establish and maintain a professional self-concept.

In conclusion, where ongoing challenges in healthcare provision continues to impact student nurses’ experiences, the nurse education community must strengthen processes and networks to support them to construct a positive professional identity.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Education and Lifelong Learning
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	11 Feb 2026 13:54
Last Modified:	11 Feb 2026 13:54
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/101914
DOI:

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