Nurses' perceptions of career growth: A qualitative descriptive study

Abstract Aims To explore nurses' experiences and perceptions of career growth and its influencing factors, as career growth is more closely associated with individual attitudes and behaviours in the new career era. Design A qualitative descriptive design was used. Methods Thirty‐one nurses from 10 secondary and 8 tertiary hospitals in Sichuan Province of China were purposively selected to participate in this study. The data were collected using individual semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews. Two researchers independently reviewed the transcripts and emergent coding. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Findings The nurses' perceptions of career growth fully described the nurses' experience and occurred in five dimensions: career promotion, career goal progress, professional ability and quality improvement, professional identity development and increase in personal prestige. The factors influencing career growth were identified at the organizational, individual and social levels. Career growth in nursing was complex, changed over time and showed several specific characteristics compared with other careers. The nurse‐specific symbol of career growth was professional identity development, which reflected career progression characteristics. Conclusions Career growth is a multi‐dimensional concept with varying influencing factors. The meaning of career growth for nurses is distinct from that for employees in other careers. Impact Nursing managers should guide nurses to comprehensively assess their career growth from multiple perspectives, and professional identity development deserves more attention. Both organizations and individuals should take responsibility for career management to pursue career growth.