Objective To explore nursing students′ strategies for cognitive engagement in learning and the influencing factors under the blended teaching mode, and to provide a reference for the widespread implementation of blended teaching and improvement of teaching effectiveness.Methods Based on activity theory and literature analysis, an interview guide was developed.Descriptive qualitative research methods were used to conduct semi-structured in-depth interviews with 15 nursing students who experienced blended teaching.Thematic analysis was applied to extract and summarize the data.Results Nursing students′ strategies for cognitive engagement in learning were summarized into three themes:restructuring planning, elaborative processing and memory connection, and rote learning and meaningful connection.The influencing factors of nursing students′ cognitive engagement were distilled into three themes:activity subject - learning psychological traits (learning interest and attitude, self-efficacy); activity object - tea-ching system design (learning objectives and tasks, learning activities and evaluation, course resources); activity community - teacher-student collaborative interaction (community interaction, teacher-student collaborative division of labor).Conclusion Nur-sing students′ learning psychological traits, interactions and division of labor between teachers and students, formative evaluation, and teaching system design under blended teaching mode can effectively influence nursing students′ cognitive engagement during blended learning.Future efforts should focus on enhancing information technology support and learning resource construction in blended teaching to promote teaching outcomes.