title: Professional socialization in nursing: A qualitative content analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Being a nurse is more than just a series of business activities and skills. In fact, it is a part of the process of socialization, which is internalization and development of professional identity. Professional socialization is necessary for involving the students in professional practices. Thus, the purpose of this qualitative research was to increase the understanding of professional socialization in nursing and explore the related factors from the perspective of registered nurses and nursing students.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this qualitative design, data were collected on 43 nurses with a variety of experiences using semi-structured interviews and focus groups in the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in 2012. Data were analyzed through inductive content analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  THE DATA ANALYSIS REVEALED TWO MAIN CATEGORIES: (1) sense of belonging with three sub-categories of theory-practice incongruence, educational experiences and tacit knowledge and (2) forming professional identity consisting of three sub-categories of relatedness, internal motivation and role model.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrates that in nursing, sense of belonging and professional identity contributes to professional socialization; it is suggested that these factors, which improve socialization in nurses, be taken into account by authorities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Member of Quality Improvement in Clinical Education Research Center, Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Ladan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zarshenas
authors.affiliation: Community Based Nursing and Midwifery Research Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Farkhondeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sharif
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Molazem
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Psychology, Shiraz University and Pishtazan Higher Education Institute, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khayyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Najaf
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zare
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical-Surgical, Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Nursing Faculty of Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ebadi
keywords: Iran; nursing; professional; qualitative research; social identity; socialization