ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Organizational Psychology
Analysis of the current status and associated factors of career calling among novice nurses: a latent profile analysis
Dinuo Xin 1
Dina Xin 2
Ying Wang 3
Wenjuan Zhu 1
Wanling Li 3
Yuanwei Heng 1
1. Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Taiyuan, China
2. Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
3. Huazhong University of Science and Technology Tongji Medical College Tongji Hospital, Wuhan, China
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Abstract
Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the current status of career calling among novice nurses, to identify potential subtypes and their population characteristics, and to further explore the factors associated with the different subtypes. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was used. From January to February 2024, 845 novice nurses from 11 hospitals in Shanxi Province were selected for an online questionnaire survey using convenience sampling. The demographic questionnaire, transition shock of newly graduated nurses scale, medical staff resilience scale, and career calling scale were used as study instruments. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to explore the subtypes of novice nurses' career calling, and multifactorial logistic regression was used to analyze the related factors of novice nurses' career calling. Results: Three subtypes of career calling of novice nurses in this study were identified, namely, lacking-calling group (10.3%), stable-calling group (50.0%), and sufficient-calling group (39.7%). Education, weekly working hours, weekly frequency of night shifts, reasons for choosing nursing, level of transition shock, and level of resilience were significantly associated with the three latent profiles of career calling of novice nurses in this study. Conclusions: Novice nurses' career calling presents 3 latent profiles and is heterogeneous in this study. Nursing administrators could pay attention to the differences in the level of career calling of novice nurses and adopt targeted management strategies based on the type of characteristics of the population in order to improve the level of career calling of novice nurses, help them develop their careers, and stabilize the nursing workforce.
Summary
Keywords
Associated factors, Career calling, Cross-Sectional Studies, latent profile analysis, Novice nurses
Received
03 July 2025
Accepted
19 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Xin, Xin, Wang, Zhu, Li and Heng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Wanling Li; Yuanwei Heng
Disclaimer
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