A cross‐sectional study in college‐based nursing education: The influence of core self‐evaluation and career calling on study engagement in nursing undergraduates

AIM: To investigate undergraduate nursing students' general study engagement using intra‐individual assessment and to evaluate the impact of core self‐evaluation and career calling on study engagement. DESIGN: A descriptive and cross‐sectional design. METHODS: Data were collected using a self‐administered questionnaire survey. Four hundred and twenty nursing students from first‐ to fourth (final)‐academic year in Guangzhou Medical University were invited to participate in the spring of 2021. The Cronbach's alpha, one‐way analysis of variance, Bonferroni post hoc analysis, Pearson correlation analysis and multiple stepwise regression analysis were used to analyse the data. RESULTS: The first‐ and fourth‐year undergraduates showed significantly higher levels of study engagement (first‐year undergraduates, 3.52 ± 0.59; fourth‐year undergraduates, 3.54 ± 0.64), core self‐evaluation (first‐year undergraduates, 3.04 ± 0.48; fourth‐year undergraduates, 3.11 ± 0.45) and career calling (first‐year undergraduates, 3.65 ± 0.47; fourth‐year undergraduates, 3.69 ± 0.50) than those of second‐year undergraduates (study engagement, 3.32 ± 0.61; core self‐evaluation, 2.93 ± 0.52; career calling, 3.41 ± 0.50) and third‐year undergraduates (study engagement, 3.16 ± 0.61; core self‐evaluation, 2.88 ± 0.50; career calling, 3.34 ± 0.38). The Pearson correlation analysis among nursing students revealed a significant positive correlation between core self‐evaluation, career calling and study engagement (p < 0.01). A partial mediation effect of career calling was present in the relationship between core self‐evaluation and study engagement.