Developing a Theoretical Model of Radiographer Professional Identity Formation in a Post-Colonial Nigerian Healthcare Context

Professional identity formation in radiography has been studied primarily in high-income Western educational settings and does not adequately account for the post-colonial dynamics of professional recognition, decolonised knowledge systems, and structural power relationships that shape how Nigerian radiographers develop and negotiate their professional identity in a context where the profession remains comparatively undervalued. This study develops an original theoretical model of radiographer professional identity formation in the Nigerian post-colonial healthcare context. A longitudinal qualitative design follows 36 radiography students across four universities in Lagos, Enugu, Kano, and Rivers States from entry to clinical registration, conducting six-monthly narrative interviews over three years. Interpretive phenomenological analysis of the longitudinal interview data, supplemented by documentary analysis of professional socialisation materials, generates the theoretical model. Available radiography professional identity literature from Nigerian higher education identifies colonial hierarchies of medical professional status, deference to medical professionals, and limited public awareness of radiography as a qualified healthcare profession as the structural conditions most distinctively shaping Nigerian radiographer identity formation. The Communities of Practice Theory by Wenger, the Post-Colonial Identity Theory of Hall, and the Professional Identity Formation Model by Trede provide the theoretical sensitising concepts. The original model, the Nigerian Radiographer Decolonial Identity Trajectory, maps the negotiation between colonial professional devaluation and emerging professional pride through clinical competence realisation as the central identity development mechanism. Keywords: professional identity formation, radiographer, post-colonial, Nigeria, longitudinal qualitative study.