The Influence of ‘Nursefluencer’ Content on Professional Identity Formation Among First-Year Nursing Students

Background: The appearance of social media nursefluencers has brought something new into nursing education, affecting the way nursing students create and manage their career identities. In the first year, nursing students are paying close attention to information that may affect their views on their profession. Aim: This study aimed to examine the influence of nursefluencer content on the professional identity formation of first-year nursing students attending nursing colleges in Swat, Pakistan. Methodology: A quantitative, cross-sectional descriptive design was employed. Participants in the study consisted of 1,200 first-year nursing students at both public and private colleges in Swat. Employing the Raosoft sample size calculator, researchers chose 320 students from the group by stratified random sampling. Data were taken through a self-administered questionnaire designed to assess demographics, how often participants use social media, the amount of nursefluencer content they are exposed to, and changes in their professional identification. Data analysis was carried out in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27, by using both descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation to study the relationships. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: Nursefluencer content reached nearly half of the respondents frequently. Clinical tutorial videos and vlogs that followed a clinician’s typical day were the ones people watched the most. There is a strong positive link (r = 0.612, p < 0.001) between how much nurses watch nursefluencers and how well their identity is developed. Spending time on social media each day was only weakly associated (r = 0.398, p < 0.01) with professional identity. Conclusion: First-year nursing students can gain a sense of their career direction from looking at nursefluencer posts on social media. It is important to add digital media literacy and education to reliable sources in nursing teaching for the best outcomes.