Research progress on career anxiety and influencing factors of nursing college students under the background of COVID-19

Yan-Qiu Hao,Xiang-Shu Cui

School of Nursing,Yanbian University,Yanji,Jilin,China

Abstract As the social environment keeps changing college students' employment anxiety increases rather than decreases,the mental health of college students during the new crown epidemic has attracted the attention of the state and universities.Through literature review, we analyzed the concept, measurement tools, and influencing factors of employment anxiety in the context of the new crown epidemic, aiming to propose measures and theoretical basis for improving career planning of nursing college students in the future, improving the quality of nursing talent training and alleviating employment anxiety of nursing college students in colleges and universities.

Keywords:Nursing college students;New crown;Career choice anxiety;Employment anxiety;Review

Introduction

The continuous development of the new crown epidemic since January 2021 has brought great impact and influence on society and the public, and some studies have shown that the harm caused by social stressful events on people's physiology may be recovered for a short time, but the psychological impact will last for a longer time [1], and the psychological impact on college students includes anxiety, depression, and worry [2-5].Research data showed that 24.9% of college students experienced anxiety due to the COVID-19 outbreak[2],the reasons for which may be related to the virus on their studies[3] and future employment [5].However, the research survey showed that 40.8% of recent graduates considered employment difficult, of which only 10.2%considered the employment situation moderately difficult or not difficult.In this year's global epidemic situation, the results of a survey study on clinical undergraduate students in China showed that the high anxiety group of clinical graduates accounted for 16.9% and the medium anxiety group accounted for 68.2% [6], however, previous studies showed that nursing graduates had higher employment anxiety than students of other medical specialties,so it is imperative to study the employment anxiety of nursing students in the context of the new crown epidemic.This study analyzes the concept of clarifying employment anxiety,measurement tools, and influencing factors through literature review,aiming to propose measures and basis for nursing college students to improve employment anxiety and improve career planning.

Overview of employment anxiety

Spielberger divided anxiety into two categories:one is called state anxiety and the other is called trait anxiety.The former refers to anxiety as a pathological state with a short duration and a high degree of anxiety.College students'employment anxiety is a kind of state anxiety, which is the emotional experience of anxiety that occurs when college students are faced with the problem of employment seeking and the possible failure to achieve their original employment goals [1].The definition of Zhang Xq [8] is that employment anxiety is caused by the employment situation,and it is a normal person's discomfort with the reality and worry about the employment result, future and other people's reaction and some behavioral and physiological reactions caused by it when facing employment, and the degree of anxiety varies from person to person.Zhang adopts the term "job selection anxiety" and defines it as a tense, uneasy,intense, and persistent emotional experience that occurs when individuals (especially first-time college students) are faced with career choice and causes corresponding physiological and behavioral changes[9].Employment anxiety is distinguished from the concept of anxiety in that employment anxiety is influenced by a specific external situation,whereas anxiety is not influenced by a specific situation.

Main measurement tools of employment anxiety

The measurement tools of employment anxiety are mainly divided into two categories;the first category is self-administered anxiety questionnaires, and a part of domestic researchers will adapt them based on other anxiety questionnaires according to their needs.Among them, the Job Choice Anxiety Questionnaire for College Graduates compiled by Zhang YZ and Chen YZ[9] is the most widely used; the second category is the original foreign anxiety measurement scales, including the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory(STAI) and the Clinical Anxiety Scale (SAS).The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) consists of two subscales, the State Anxiety Inventory (S-AI) and the Trait Anxiety Inventory(T-AI),each with 20 questions,and was translated into Chinese in 1988.The Clinical Anxiety Scale (SAS) was developed by Zung in 1971 and contains 20 questions with a 4-point scale to assess the level of anxiety in the last week.

Factors influencing employment anxiety

Internal factors

Physiological factorsZhang Ziming et al.showed that employment anxiety differed between gender, place of birth, whether or not they were an only child, and professional year[12],but employment anxiety did not differ between undergraduate and senior nursing college students [13].Because women are more psychologically sensitive than men or women have higher requirements for physical appearance than men[14],women have higher levels of employment anxiety than men, which is consistent with the results of other studies in China [15-16].However, some studies have also shown that males are higher than females [17-18]analyzing the reason for this may be the difference between the study subjects'professions.There are also differences between religion [19] and ethnicity [20],and the employment anxiety of nursing college students of Korean ethnicity is higher than that of Han ethnicity, which may be related to ethnic-cultural background and family education.

Personal traitsStudies have shown that core self-evaluation is significantly and negatively correlated with employment anxiety [21-22], and the higher the score self-evaluation, the stronger the self-efficacy, and Yang HZ et al.showed that career adaptability has a significant negative predictive effect on career choice anxiety,and the psychological control source of opportunity and strength of others factor is significantly and positively correlated with career choice anxiety, which is also consistent with Zhang YZ's study.The level of job anxiety of "external control" nursing students was higher than that of"internal control" nursing students [23].Self-esteem is negatively correlated with career anxiety [5][24], and the higher the external self-esteem and the clearer the self-concept, the lower the employment anxiety.Therefore, paying attention to the cultivation of psychological quality in the process of nursing students'talent training and improving the self-concept level of "external control" nursing students can help nursing students'career choice anxiety.

External factors

Employment situationGao XQ's study showed that employment anxiety among college students was at a moderately high level, while data showed that the employment anxiety level of college students in areas with severe viruses was significantly higher than that in ordinary areas [25].A survey of willingness to volunteer for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia,showed that most medical students expressed reluctance to work in a healthcare facility with inadequate isolation policies for MERS infection control [26].The safety of the unknown work environment and the gap between self-career expectations and reality can also affect nursing students'employment mental health issues.

Social supportThe level of social support significantly predicts the level of employment anxiety, and the higher the level of social support, the lower the employment anxiety [1, 27-28].Meanwhile, studies have indicated that social support affects college students' employment anxiety partly through self-efficacy [25], and that mental toughness plays a mediating role in employment anxiety and social support[28].In the process of teaching and training, it is important to improve the mental toughness as well as self-efficacy of nursing students to better play the role of social support.

Family educationThe survey showed that family economy was negatively correlated with employment anxiety [29], and students from families with low-income levels had higher employment anxiety than those from families with higher economic levels,which may be related to the primitive family education,where rural families are more eager to see their children grow up and students have a heavier psychological burden.Zhang YZ's study also showed that students from farming and herding families had higher state anxiety than students from cadre families[30], and that good interpersonal relationships and family environment can alleviate anxiety due to employment.

Educational suggestions

Firstly, gender differences and differences in place of origin in the employment guidance process should be faced squarely, especially for nursing students, where the differences between men and women in the job search process are greater.Secondly,improve social support, including family support,personal support, and social support, broaden employment channels,organize employment simulation training, career skills competition, and career planning competition during school, so that students can clarify career planning early and improve career maturity and professional identity, and at the same time, the state and schools should improve support for college students to start their own business.Finally, schools should strengthen the self-quality cultivation of nursing student groups and increase self-efficacy by improving mental toughness and core self-evaluation,thus transforming external support into internal motivation.