Cognitive Flexibility and Professional Identity in Nursing Students: The Modeling Role

BACKGROUND: Students' professional identity is essential to build nursing competence. Cognitive flexibility plays a crucial role in developing professional identity, as well as clinical supervisors and academic teachers through role modeling. This study analyzed the role of internship and theoretical modeling in the link between cognitive flexibility and professional identity. METHOD: Participants were first-, second-, and third-year nursing students (n = 284) at a university in northern Italy. Participants completed an online survey, and multigroup analysis was performed. RESULTS: Internship modeling was positively associated with professional identity but not for second-year students. Theoretical modeling was not significantly associated with professional identity and cognitive flexibility. Theoretical modeling did not mediate the relationship between cognitive flexibility and professional identity. Clinical internship modeling mediated the relationship between cognitive flexibility and professional identity but not for second-year students. CONCLUSION: Internship modeling helps students give sense and coherence to learning, which contributes to their professional identity. [J Nurs Educ. 2024;63(11):764-772.].