Abstract: Objective To investigate the current status of professional grief among nursing postgraduates and to analyze its influencing factors. Methods Convenience sampling was used to select 154 nursing postgraduates who had encountered patients' death from May to July, 2022, and they were investigated by using the general information questionnaire, Professional Grief Symptom Scale for Medical Postgraduate Students, Disenfranchised Grief Scale, Professional Grief Support Scale for ICU Nurses, Psychological Detachment Scale and Connor-Davidson Resilience scale. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine the influencing factors of professional grief. Results The total score of professional grief of nursing postgraduates was 82.27±17.45. Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that disenfranchised grief, attitude towards patient's death, psychological detachment, and support from leaders entered into the regression equation (P<0.05), explaining 32.9% of the total variation. Conclusion The professional grief of nursing postgraduates is at a moderate level, which is influenced by disenfranchised grief, attitudes towards patient's death, psychological detachment, and support from leaders. It is recommended that the head nurses and clinical teachers should provide adequate time and space for nursing postgraduates to express grief, and content related to professional grief should be covered in postgraduate curriculum to help nursing postgraduates attend to grief better.

Key words: professional grief, nursing, postgraduate student, patient's death