Behavioral sciences
Negotiating Mental Health and Professional Identities: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Nursing Students' Categorisation, Disclosure, and Support-Seeking
By Pasay-An E, Gonzales A, Gutierrez J and 9 others.
Abstract
Introduction
This study explores how students develop, negotiate and represent their mental health alongside their professional identities. The aim is to understand how nursing students construct and negotiate their mental health identities in academic and clinical environments.
Method
Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), this qualitative research employed nine nursing students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) programme at King Khalid University in Saudi Arabia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in Arabic, the participants' native language, and professionally translated to English for analysis. Interviews were analyzed using a six-stage IPA protocol and an integrated coding framework operationalizing concept from Social Identity Theory, Symbolic Interactionism, and Identity Negotiation Theory.