The association between school educational atmosphere, learning engagement, and professional commitment of nursing students, and learning engagement as the mediator

The current shortage and loss of nurses has become a significant problem in healthcare systems around the world. Professional commitment is essential to prevent the loss of nursing staff and stabilize the nursing workforce. This study aimed to explore the unique relationship between school educational atmosphere, learning engagement, and professional commitment, and whether learning engagement would mediate the relationship between educational atmosphere and professional commitment. A cross-sectional study design was used. The participants came from six schools in four cities in Hubei Province, China. A total of 1009 nursing students above the first year of undergraduate studies were included by convenient sampling method. Data were collected using the Educational Climate Inventory, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-student, and the Professional Commitment Scale. Pearson correlation was used to examine the relationship between educational atmosphere, learning engagement, and professional commitment. Mediation analysis was used to test whether learning engagement mediated the relationship between educational atmosphere and professional commitment. A positive educational atmosphere was associated with a high level of learning engagement, which was associated with a higher level of professional commitment. Learning engagement mediated the relationship between educational atmosphere and professional commitment. The findings provide empirical evidence for promoting professional commitment in nursing students. Learning engagement is an important mediating variable connecting educational atmosphere and professional commitment. In order to stabilize the career choices of nursing students, it is necessary to take measures to improve their learning engagement during school.