1.1 Study population
This study was a cross-sectional study, and a convenience sampling method was used to select rehabilitation therapy students from a university in Gansu Province in November 2022 as the study population. Inclusion criteria: those who passed the national unified examination for admission to general higher education institutions; those who voluntarily participated in this study. Exclusion criteria: non-Chinese rehabilitation students; those with a past history of psychiatric disorders; those who were unable to understand or answer the questionnaire.
1.2 Research Instruments
1.2.1 General information questionnaire
Self-designed general information questionnaire, including grade, gender, ethnicity, age, professional selection method, from, whether they are only child, whether they are class leaders, and per capita monthly family income.
1.2.2 College students' professional identity scale
In this study, the professional identity questionnaire developed by Qin Panbo in 2009[12]was selected. Although there are many related professional identity questionnaires in the world, this questionnaire was screened on the basis of comprehensive analysis because foreign questionnaires are biased toward professional identity questionnaires and some questionnaires in China are more targeted at a specific group (such as teacher training students, nursing students, social professional students, etc.). Qin Panbo's definition of professional identity and the division of each dimension are more consistent with this study, and this questionnaire has good reliability and validity, and is widely used in various empirical studies. The 23-item questionnaire consists of four dimensions, namely cognitive, affective, behavioral, and aptness. The cognitive professional identity represents individuals' basic knowledge of the profession, with 5 questions; the affective professional identity represents individuals' emotional preference for the profession, with 8 questions; the behavioral professional identity represents individuals' behavioral performance of professional learning, with 6 questions; and the appropriate professional identity represents the degree of matching between the profession and oneself, with 4 questions. The questionnaire uses a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 point for "not at all", 2 points for "not at all", 3 points for "not sure", and 4 points for "not at all". A score of 4 is given for "relatively consistent" and 5 is given for "fully consistent". In the measurement, the sum of the individual's scores (mean scores) on the four dimensions is the total questionnaire score. The higher the score (mean score), the higher the degree of agreement of the individual in the dimension.
1.3 Data collection and statistical methods
The respondents gave their informed consent to participate in the electronic questionnaire, and the questionnaire was filled in anonymously, and an IP address could only be filled in once. A total of 240 questionnaires were distributed, and 189 questionnaires were effectively returned, with a valid return rate of 78.8%. This study used Excel for data entry and SPSS 25.0 statistical software for analysis. The general information of rehabilitation therapy students was described by frequency and percentage, and the questionnaire scores were described by mean and standard deviation. Multiple linear regression was used to analyze the factors influencing professional identity with a test level of α = 0.05.