MedEdPORTAL (May 2013)
An Instrument to Measure Health Professional Motivation—Description and Review
Abstract
Abstract Introduction Active, independent, self-directed learning requires motivation, or a willingness to exert high levels of effort toward educational goals. We developed and validated the Modified Archer Health Profession Motivation Survey (MAHPMS), an instrument measuring motivation among learners in health professions who (1) prefer a mastery achievement goal orientation, (2) use metacognitive learning strategies, (3) evidence an internal locus of control, and (4) are willing to take on difficult tasks in order to increase their knowledge. Methods The MAHPMS is a faculty-administered paper-based questionnaire. Results We validated the MAHPMS in an initial study conducted by clinical faculty from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Colleges of Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy. Subjects included 252 students in the first year of their professional programs of whom 240 (95%) responded; 143 were medical students, 45 were nursing students, and 52 were pharmacy students. Our factor analysis confirmed Archer's confirmed factor analysis. Reported reliability coefficients for the MAHPMS were .87 for the goal orientation scale, .73 for the locus of control scale, and .62 for the learning strategies scale. In 1999, we investigated whether medical student motivation changed over time. The MAHPMS was administered in August 1999, and again in March 2000, to 146 medical students in the first year of a traditional curriculum. Most of these students (82%) showed a statistically significant decrease in their preference for mastery and internal locus of control items, as well as a significant increase in academic alienation. At the same time, we conducted a study to determine whether a shift in pharmacy students' goal orientation occurred during their professional education. The MAHPMS was administered to 81 first-year pharmacy students in the fall 1999 semester and again in the 2000 spring semester. Over the course of the year, student scores on the mastery scale decreased and scores on the academic alienation scale increased. Students also exhibited an average decrease on the internal locus of control scores. Findings suggested that although the students' goal orientation remained mastery, they were shifting from this goal orientation to academic alienation. Finally, we assessed the potential of the MAHPMS for measuring and identifying lifelong learning attributes at the graduate medical education level by determining whether these attributes were present in a group of 146 family practice residents in the UAMS Department of Family & Community Medicine and six affiliated area health education centers during the 2001–2002 academic year. Most residents in the study reported a mastery goal orientation preference and internal locus of control, and most would select difficult tasks and use metacognitive learning strategies. Discussion Our IRB-approved study results confirmed the MAHPMS's reliability and valid use for health professionals.
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