PERCEIVED SELF-EFFICACY IN PEDIATRIC NURSES OF PROFICIENCY CONCEPT: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Self-efficacy as the main predictor of nurses’ behavior plays an important role in
nurses’ professional behavior. However, the various aspects of this concept have not been taken into
consideration. The present paper attempts to explore perceived self-efficacy of proficiency in pediatric
nurses.
Materials & Methods: This study is part of a larger study on the caring self-efficacy concept that was
conducted through content analysis and from a qualitative approach in 2014 in Iran. 27 nurses and
pediatric clinical instructors participated in this research according to the purposive sampling employed
in the study. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews. The collected data was analyzed
using conventional content analysis method.
Results: The proficiency concept has two main categories “Technical Capabilities” including clinical
skills, creativity in care, Atraumatic care, and “care based on professional knowledge” including
Knowing That and Knowing How.
Conclusions: This paper introduces “proficiency” as one of the most aspects of caring self-efficacy in
pediatric nurses. This finding can be used by nursing administrators and instructors to help perceived
self-efficacy of nurses, especially in the area of pediatric caring and to enhance quality of pediatric
caring