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. 2026 Feb 27:18:585765.
doi: 10.2147/IJWH.S585765. eCollection 2026.

The Relationship Between Midwives' Psychological Capital and Core Competency: A Latent Profile Analysis

Shiqian Ni  1   2 , Aixia Zhang  1 , Zhu Zhu  1 , Lanzhi Jiang  3 , Lin Li  4 , Xiumei Xue  5 , Jianfang Wang  6 , Liulan Li  7 , Xuemei Fan  7 , Min Xu  8
Affiliations

The Relationship Between Midwives' Psychological Capital and Core Competency: A Latent Profile Analysis

Shiqian Ni et al. Int J Womens Health. .

Abstract

Background: To analyze the latent profiles and influencing factors of psychological capital of midwives, and to explore the core competencies of midwives with different profiles.

Methods: From July 5 to July 19, 2024, a cross-sectional study was conducted using convenience sampling to recruit 965 midwives from Jiangsu Province, China. The Demographics Questionnaire, Positive Psycap Questionnaire, and Midwife Core Competency Scale were used for investigation. Data analysis was performed using latent profile analysis, univariate analysis, multinomial logistic regression analysis, and the Kruskal-Wallis H-test.

Results: The psychological capital of midwives can be classified into three profiles: low psychological capital - balanced group (C1) (56.37%), medium psychological capital - low tenacity group (C2) (21.97%), and high psychological capital - balanced group (C3) (21.66%). Compared to C1, midwives working in general hospitals were more likely to belong to C2 (aORs = 1.820, 95%CI: 1.213-2.729, P < 0.01) and C3 (aORs = 1.665, 95%CI: 1.117-2.481, P < 0.05). Compared to C2, midwives with 0-5 years of working experience were more likely to belong to C1 (aORs = 0.117, 95%CI: 0.022-0.612, P < 0.05) and C3 (aORs = 8.334, 95%CI: 1.295-53.645, P < 0.05). Compared to C3, midwives with a junior college degree were more likely to belong to C1 (aORs = 0.643, 95%CI: 0.416-0.994, P < 0.05). C1 showed statistically lower scores of core competency compared to C2 and C3 (P < 0.05), while no significant difference was observed between C2 and C3 (P > 0.05).

Conclusion: This study revealed heterogeneity in the psychological capital of midwives. Targeted interventions, such as Psychological Capital Intervention (PCI) strategies, should be primarily applied to the C1 group to enhance their self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and core competency levels. Concurrently, the emotional contagion and role-modeling effects of the C3 group should be leveraged. When resources permit, efforts should also be made to improve the tenacity level of the C2 group.

Keywords: core competency; latent profile analysis; midwife; psychological capital.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The characteristic distribution of 3 latent profiles of psychological capital for midwives.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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