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Background <p>Work readiness is crucial for nursing students transitioning to clinical roles. However, exploration of the impact of career social support and career maturity on nursing graduates’ work readiness remains limited. Therefore, this study evaluates Chinese nursing graduates’ work readiness and examines the relationships between the above variables.</p> Methods <p>We recruited 657 graduating practical nursing students from schools of nursing at two first-tier universities, two local second-tier colleges, and two vocational colleges in China using a stratified cluster sampling method. Data were collected from December 2022 to January 2023. We used a demographic information questionnaire and the Chinese versions of the work readiness scale for graduate nurses, the career social support inventory for Chinese college students, and the career maturity scale for college students. Hierarchical regression was used to analyze the factors associated with work readiness.</p> Results <p>The total work readiness score was 243.46 ± 46.79 (out of 370 points), with a mean score of 6.58 ± 1.26 (per item, out of 10 points). The highest and lowest scores were for organizational hierarchy (7.47 ± 1.68) and personal work characteristics (3.93 ± 1.33), respectively. Emotional support, goal-orientation, confidence, value, decisiveness, reference, and having class cadre experience were the main factors associated with work readiness. Career social support and career maturity independently explained 21.3% and 26.1% of the variance in work readiness, respectively.</p> Conclusions <p>Graduating nursing students’ work readiness is acceptable yet requires further improvement. Strengthening graduating nursing students’ career social support and career maturity can help them improve work readiness. Career-focused education programs (e.g., career development activities, vocational counseling, and career guidance) and co-creative leadership learning initiatives are recommended to help graduating nursing students transition smoothly into clinical work and increase their retention in healthcare settings.</p>

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Factors associated with work readiness among graduating nursing students in China: the impact of career social support and career maturity

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月8日

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  • Chunhong Shi,
  • Yan Zhang

摘要

Background

Work readiness is crucial for nursing students transitioning to clinical roles. However, exploration of the impact of career social support and career maturity on nursing graduates’ work readiness remains limited. Therefore, this study evaluates Chinese nursing graduates’ work readiness and examines the relationships between the above variables.

Methods

We recruited 657 graduating practical nursing students from schools of nursing at two first-tier universities, two local second-tier colleges, and two vocational colleges in China using a stratified cluster sampling method. Data were collected from December 2022 to January 2023. We used a demographic information questionnaire and the Chinese versions of the work readiness scale for graduate nurses, the career social support inventory for Chinese college students, and the career maturity scale for college students. Hierarchical regression was used to analyze the factors associated with work readiness.

Results

The total work readiness score was 243.46 ± 46.79 (out of 370 points), with a mean score of 6.58 ± 1.26 (per item, out of 10 points). The highest and lowest scores were for organizational hierarchy (7.47 ± 1.68) and personal work characteristics (3.93 ± 1.33), respectively. Emotional support, goal-orientation, confidence, value, decisiveness, reference, and having class cadre experience were the main factors associated with work readiness. Career social support and career maturity independently explained 21.3% and 26.1% of the variance in work readiness, respectively.

Conclusions

Graduating nursing students’ work readiness is acceptable yet requires further improvement. Strengthening graduating nursing students’ career social support and career maturity can help them improve work readiness. Career-focused education programs (e.g., career development activities, vocational counseling, and career guidance) and co-creative leadership learning initiatives are recommended to help graduating nursing students transition smoothly into clinical work and increase their retention in healthcare settings.