Yilin Wang, Chong Chin Che, Li Yoong Tang
PsyCap was consistently associated with psychological and academic outcomes among undergraduate nursing students, although pooled levels varied substantially across studies and measurement instruments. Evidence concerning potential mediating pathways remains preliminary. Greater measurement consistency and longitudinal or intervention research are needed to clarify the role of PsyCap in nursing education.
AIMS: To synthesize instrument-specific levels of psychological capital (PsyCap) among undergraduate nursing students and examine its correlates and preliminary evidence concerning potential mediating pathways.
DESIGN: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
DATA SOURCES: CINAHL, Embase, MEDLINE, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, CNKI, and WanFang Data were searched for studies published from January 2000 to June 2026.
METHODS: Random-effects meta-analyses were used to estimate instrument-specific pooled PsyCap scores and correlation coefficients. Subgroup analyses and exploratory univariable meta-regression were conducted to examine between-study heterogeneity. An exploratory two-stage meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) analysis was conducted when sufficiently comparable correlation data were available.
RESULTS: Thirty-four studies involving 15,705 nursing students were included. The pooled item-level mean was 4.235 for the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ; k = 13; 95% CI: 4.080-4.390; I2 = 98.80%) and 4.459 for the Positive Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PPQ; k = 13; 95% CI: 4.252-4.667; I2 = 99.42%). PsyCap was positively associated with professional identity, academic engagement, and self-directed learning, and negatively associated with stress-related and maladaptive outcomes. Exploratory meta-regression identified study-level female composition as a potential source of heterogeneity, although substantial residual heterogeneity remained. MASEM based on two cross-sectional studies suggested an indirect association between perceived stress and self-directed learning through PsyCap; temporal ordering and causal mediation cannot be established.
CONCLUSIONS: PsyCap was consistently associated with psychological and academic outcomes among undergraduate nursing students, although pooled levels varied substantially across studies and measurement instruments. Evidence concerning potential mediating pathways remains preliminary. Greater measurement consistency and longitudinal or intervention research are needed to clarify the role of PsyCap in nursing education.