Measuring change in domains of health-related quality of life and well-being in Black or African American adolescent football athletes from rural communities across a single football season.

With the rapid development of global healthcare and the accelerating trend of population aging, the demand for clinical nursing services has increased significantly, accompanied by rising expectations for the quality of nursing care. Against this backdrop, healthcare institutions have placed higher expectations on the clinical competence of new graduate nurses, requiring them to adapt swiftly to complex clinical environments and effectively resolve various nursing problems (). However, existing studies have shown that new graduate nurses commonly encounter numerous challenges in clinical practice, including insufficient ability to analyze clinical data, difficulty identifying the root causes of problems, low efficiency in integrating information, inaccurate prioritization of nursing issues, and inappropriate selection of interventions (). These deficiencies not only expose new graduate nurses to significant transitional shocks but also lead to interpersonal tension, anxiety, and professional burnout (). But may also pose threats to patient safety, as evidenced by higher rates of nursing errors and delayed recovery processes (). Therefore, to enable new graduate nurses to deliver safer, higher-quality patient care, it is essential that they possess a multidimensional set of competencies and personal attributes. Practice readiness refers to a new employee’s capacity—including knowledge, skills, and attitudes—to adapt to a specific workplace and respond effectively to various work scenarios and challenges (). For new graduate nurses, practice readiness extends beyond the mastery of technical skills to encompass critical thinking, clinical judgment, communication skills, professional responsibility, and psychological resilience in coping with the “reality shock” of clinical practice (, ). This concept goes beyond traditional assessments of knowledge and skills, emphasizing integrated practical competence within complex clinical environments. Adequate practice readiness enables new nurses to better manage these challenges, adapt more rapidly to new work settings, team cultures, and evolving responsibilities (). However, influenced by educational and training models, clinical support systems, and individual psychological characteristics, new graduate nurses often experience insufficient practice readiness when transitioning from academic settings to real-world clinical practice (, ). Evidence suggests that only approximately 8% of new graduate registered nurses are adequately prepared to perform basic clinical judgments (). This substantial gap between theory and practice frequently leads to feelings of frustration and stress among new graduate nurses (), affecting their professional identity and sense of responsibility (), and may even contribute to nursing workforce attrition (). This phenomenon has become a shared challenge in global nursing education and management (), highlighting the need for a systematic investigation into the current status of new graduate nurses’ nursing practice readiness and its influencing factors.