Abstract
Aim: This study was conducted to examine the professional image perceptions of nurse interns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Method: The sample of the descriptive study consisted of 170 nurse interns enrolled in the 4th year program of the nursing department of a foundation university in the academic year of 2020-2021. The data were collected with google forms using the Personal Information Form and the "Image Scale for Nursing Profession".
Results: 83,8% (n = 145) of the participants were women and the average age was 21,86 ± 1,84 years, and 15% (n = 26) stated that they were diagnosed with COVID-19. It was determined that 89.6% chose the nursing profession willingly, 59,5% wanted to work actively in the pandemic, 67,1% answered "I am anxious" about the dimensions of anxiety during the pandemic process, felt the most fear and anxiety and stated that this situation was temporary. The professional image scale score of the intern nurses was determined as 153,76 ± 9,38 (min-max values: 102-174) points. It was determined that the mean rank of interns who stated that they were anxious, did not find the measures taken for the nurses sufficient, and did not choose the nursing profession willingly, was statistically significantly lower than those who chose the profession voluntarily (p <0,05).
Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was determined that intern nurses had a good professional image perception, but their anxiety and fear levels were high and their working conditions subscale scores were low.