Jinping Zhou,1,* Wei Zhou,2,* Xinyi Liu,3 Li Pan,3 Xiaoying Li,3 Nianchun Shan3,4 

1Teaching and Research Section of Clinical Nursing, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410008, People’s Republic of China; 2Health Management Center, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410008, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Gynecology, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410008, People’s Republic of China; 4National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410008, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Nianchun Shan, Email shannianchun@163.com

Purpose: Aimed to examine the relationship between Individual participation, social support, self-efficacy and career planning among medical students of obstetrics and gynecology.
Patients and Methods: Utilizing a cross-sectional survey, We evaluated 292 medical students specializing in obstetrics and gynecology across various educational stages. Questionnaires measured academic self-efficacy, social support, personal involvement, and career planning. We applied descriptive statistics, linear regression, and mediation effect analyses with the SPSS AU tool.
Results: This study evaluated the career planning status of 292 medical students rotating through obstetrics and gynecology at various educational stages using a cross-sectional survey. Linear regression analysis revealed that age has a negative impact on career planning scores, with each additional year reducing the score by an average of 0.065 points. Gender (with males scoring lower) and residence (with students from rural areas scoring higher) also had significant effects (all p < 0.05). Positive factors included self-efficacy in academic ability, career planning guidance from parents and friends, participation in career planning-related training, medical practice projects, and medical competitions, all of which significantly and positively influenced career planning scores, the aforementioned factors account for 40.5% of the variation in career planning. Mediation effect analysis showed that social support and personal participation have significant indirect effects on career planning through self-efficacy, accounting for 7.746% and 5.338% of the total effect, respectively, and both have significant direct positive impacts on career planning, with total effects of 0.526 (95% CI [0.393, 0.658], p = 0.000 < 0.001) and 0.470 (95% CI [0.292, 0.648], p = 0.000 < 0.001), respectively. These results highlight the importance of enhancing social support and personal participation to improve career planning capabilities among medical students (all p < 0.05).
Conclusion: Enhancing social support and personal participation can improve career planning capabilities in medical students by boosting self-efficacy.

Keywords: self-efficacy, social support, career development, personal participation, mediation effect