Objective To construct the network structure of clinical stress perception of nursing interns, identify the core central node, and reveal the bridge connection mechanism between clinical stress perception and cognitive emotion regulation strategies from the perspective of network analysis, so as to provide accurate targets for mental health intervention of nursing interns.

Methods A cross-sectional study design was adopted, 452 nursing interns were selected as the research subjects. The general information questionnaire, Clinical Stress Perception Scale for Nursing Interns and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire were used for the investigation. The Rstudio 4.5.1 software was used to construct the network analysis model and calculate the relevant indicators.

Results The core central nodes of the clinical stress perception network were the inappropriate teaching behaviors, insufficient clinical environment and inefficient clinical teaching planning. In the bridge network of clinical stress perception and cognitive emotion regulation strategies, the anxiety of nursing characteristics, self-blame, insufficient clinical environment and disaster became the core bridge nodes, which were the key hubs of the correlation between them. The network stability test showed that the node strength-related stability coefficient was 0.75, and the bridge strength-related stability coefficient was 0.52, both of which were greater than 0.25, indicating that the network structure was stable.

Conclusions The central nodes such as improper teaching behavior and insufficient clinical environment and bridge nodes such as nursing characteristics such as worry and self-blame, combined with their clinical intervention characteristics, can be used as the potential core targets for mental health intervention of nursing interns.