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. 2025 Aug 21;15:30813. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-16759-y

Table 2.

Demographic characteristics and educational profiles between clusters.

Cluster 1
(N = 21)
Cluster 2
(N = 48)
Cluster 3
(N = 46)
Cluster 4
(N = 68)
Cluster 5
(N = 13)
Cluster 6
(N = 26)
Cluster 7 (N = 19) Effect size P
N % N % N % N % N % N % N %
Sex
Females 15 71.4 37 77.1 28 60.9 46 67.6 7 53.8 20 76.9 11 57.9 0.16 0.417
Males 6 28.6 11 22.9 18 39.1 22 32.4 6 46.2 6 23.1 8 42.1
Age
Years (median; IQR) 27.00 24.00–38.00 29.00 24.25–40.00 28.50 25.00–40.00 34.00 25.25–40.00 31.00 25.00–47.00 24.00 24.00–28.00 28.00 24.00–33.00 0.069 < 0.001
Location
Northern Italy 16 76.2 25 52.1 20 43.5 44 64.7 8 61.5 17 65.4 9 47.4 0.17 0.268
Central Italy 3 14.3 13 27.1 15 32.6 11 16.2 1 7.7 6 23.1 4 21.1
Southern Italy 2 9.5 10 20.8 11 23.9 13 19.1 4 30.8 3 11.5 6 31.6
Profile
RNs attending an MSN 14 66.7 22 45.8 22 47.8 31 45.6 5 38.5 23 88.5 9 47.4 0.28 0.004
RNs with no ongoing university education 7 33.3 26 54.2 24 52.2 37 54.4 8 61.5 3 11.5 10 52.6
Work settings (n = 61 workers)
Critical care 1 4.8 8 16.7 5 10.9 9 13.2 1 7.7 2 7.7 3 15.8 0.16 0.363
Medical care 4 19 11 22.9 7 15.2 12 17.6 0 0 5 19.2 8 42.1
Surgical care 7 33.3 10 20.8 11 23.9 17 25 4 30.8 4 15.4 4 21.1
Primary care 5 23.8 10 20.8 17 37 12 17.6 4 30.8 6 23.1 2 10.5
Outpatient services 4 19 9 18.8 6 13 18 26.5 4 30.8 9 34.6 2 10.5
COVID-19 vaccine*
Yes 21 100 42 87.5 45 97.8 68 100 13 100 26 100 19 100 0.29 0.003
Number of COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters
No boosters (unvaccinated respondents) 0 0 6 12.5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.24 < 0.001
One booster 0 0 5 10.4 0 1 1.5 0 0 3 11.5 2 10.5
Two boosters 10 47.6 21 43.8 6 16 23.5 2 15.4 7 26.9 9 47.4
Three or more boosters 11 52.4 16 33.3 39 51 75 11 84.6 16 61.5 8 42.1

The significance threshold for all between-cluster comparisons was adjusted using the Bonferroni correction to account for multiple testing. The corrected alpha level was set at p < 0.005. Statistically significant p-values are shown in bold. Effect sizes are reported as Cramér’s V for categorical variables and η² for continuous variables, with benchmarks of 0.10/0.30/0.50 (small/medium/large) for Cramér’s V and 0.01/0.06/0.14 (small/medium/large) for η².