Workplace Bullying, Hardiness, and Occupational Identity Among Nursing Students: Mediation of Academic Burnout.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Quality clinical environments are crucial in bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical skills. This study explored the mediating role of academic burnout in relation to workplace bullying experience, stress hardiness, and occupational identity among nursing students during clinical practice. METHOD: In this cross-sectional study, an online questionnaire was administered to fourth-year nursing students from four universities. Data were collected in March 2023 and analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t test, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and PROCESS Macro Model 4. RESULTS: In the final sample (N = 202), the correlates of occupational identity were stress hardiness and academic burnout; workplace bullying was not statistically significant. Academic burnout completely and partially mediated the relationship between workplace bullying and occupational identity and between stress hardiness and occupational identity, respectively. CONCLUSION: To strengthen nursing students' occupational identity, active attention and management are required to prevent academic burnout and improve stress hardiness. [J Nurs Educ. 2024;63(9)604-612.].