Objective  To examine the status of professional identity among undergraduates majoring in public health and preventive medicine in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic for providing evidences to the training of public health professional, improvement of professional identity and stabilization of professional workforce in China.

  Methods  Using convenient sampling, we recruited 457 undergraduates majoring in public health and preventive medicine in four universities in Beijing city, Hubei and Sichuan province for an online survey conducted during September – October, 2020. A self-designed questionnaire was used in the study.

  Results  For the 402 participants with valid information, the average score of professional identity was 3.39 ± 0.52, indicating a moderate level of professional identity; the average scores of six professional identity dimensions were 2.89 ± 0.52 for cognition, 3.17 ± 0.65 for emotion, 3.75 ± 0.65 for behavior, 3.50 ± 0.76 for commitment, 3.58 ± 0.49 for value, and 3.44 ± 0.71 for expectation, respectively. Multivariate linear stepwise regression analysis showed that the participants with following characteristics were more likely to have a higher professional identity: studying in lower grade (β = 0.062, P < 0.001), being an only child (β = 0.118, P = 0.034), with a family member engaged in medical work (β = 0.148, P = 0.002), and preferring to work as a medical worker after experiencing COVID-19 epidemic (β = 0.524, P < 0.001).

  Conclusion  Among the Chinese undergraduates majoring in public health and preventive medicine, the professional identity is at a moderate level and mainly influenced by studying grade, whether being an only child, whether with a medical worker in family members and experience of public health emergency.