Education Commons^™

Professional Identity Formation: A Concept Analysis, Kathryn Halverson, Deborah Tregunno, Ivana Vidjen

Quality Advancement in Nursing Education - Avancées en formation infirmière

Purpose: Becoming and being a nurse is vaguely conceptualized, so it is important for nurses to understand the defining attributes, antecedents, consequences, model cases, and empirical referents of professional identity with the aim of better understanding the process of its formation.

Method: Walker and Avant’s (2005) method is used to guide this concept analysis of professional identity.

Findings: The analysis indicated that formation of professional identity in nursing consists of three main themes: individual characteristics, becoming a nurse, and professional identity. This article explores our understanding of the concept in relation to the current literature, and a research study conducted …