The mediating effect of clinical teaching behavior on transition shock and career identity among new nurses: A cross-sectional study

Background: New nurse attrition is a worldwide problem. Because of the gap between theory and practice in their work, new nurses may experience transition shock, which can have a negative impact on their career identity. Clinical teaching behavior is an important component in reducing the impact of new nurse transition, stabilizing the hospital nursing workforce, and cultivating high-quality nursing talents.Objectives: Based on the New Nurse Transition Model, to explore the mediating role of clinical teaching behavior in the relationship between transition shock and career identity in the new nurse population of Gansu Province.Design: A cross-sectional study. Setting: Seventeen hospitals in Gansu province of China. Participants: A total of 1684 new nurses (1590 female and 94 male) were recruited from seventeen hospitals in Gansu province.Methods: Three questionnaires include: The Clinical Teaching Behavior Inventory (CTBI-23), the Transition shock of Newly Graduated Nurses Scale (TSNGNS), and the Nurse's Career Identity Scale (NCIS). Structural equation modeling was used to deal with the relationships among clinical teaching behavior, transition shock, and career identity.Results: Transition shock was found to be negatively related to both career identity and clinical teaching behavior, with clinical teaching behavior mediates the relationship between transition shock and career identity.Conclusions: The clinical teaching behavior of the teaching staff plays a role in mediating the relationship between new nurses' sense of career identity and transition shock. Accordingly, the teaching behavior of clinical teaching should be improved and the quality of clinical teaching behavior should be improved to increase the career identity of new nurses and reduce the turnover rate of new nurses.