The relationship between the sources of confidence in overcoming COVID-19 and the improvement of medical students' professional identity: mediation by medical students' attention to COVID-19

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of COVID-19 highlights the shortage of human medical resources, and improving medical students' professional identity is crucial to improving this situation. The sources of confidence in overcoming COVID-19 and medical students' attention to COVID-19 were significant factors affecting their professional identity. However, no study has investigated the mediating role of medical students' attention to COVID-19 in their relationship. This study investigates the relationship between these three factors in three medical university students in Hunan Province. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey study that used convenience sampling method was conducted on 2775 medical students from three universities in the Hunan Province of China from March 15 to April 19, 2020. An intermediary model was established to evaluate the role of medical students' attention to COVID-19 in the sources of confidence in overcoming COVID-19 and the improvement of medical students' professional identity. RESULTS: The sources of confidence in overcoming COVID-19, medical students' attention to national crisis events, and the improvement of medical students' professional identity was positively associated with each other (β = 0.328 ~ 0.464, P < 0.001). The mediating effect accounted for 23.3% of the total effect and 30.4% of the direct effect. Medical students' attention to COVID-19 partially mediates the relationship between the sources of confidence to overcome COVID-19 and the improvement of medical students' professional identity. CONCLUSIONS: This study found that the sources of confidence in overcoming COVID-19 and medical students' attention to national crisis events have a significant predictive effect on the improvement of medical students' professional identity. Medical students' attention to COVID-19 mediated the relationship between the sources of confidence to overcome COVID-19 and the improvement of medical students' professional identity. The findings have emphasized the theoretical and practical significance of professional identity education for medical students.