Paths to Autonomous Motivation and Well-being: Understanding the Contribution of Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction in Health Professions Students.

Med Sci Educ

School of Health Professions Education, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Universiteitssingel 50, 6229 ER Maastricht, The Netherlands.

Published: December 2024

AI Article Synopsis

  • Undergraduate students in Health Professions face motivation and well-being challenges, and the study explores how satisfying their basic psychological needs impacts their levels of autonomous motivation and overall well-being.
  • Flowing from a survey of 202 students, the results indicate that satisfaction of autonomy boosts autonomous motivation, while satisfaction of relatedness and competence contributes equally to overall well-being.
  • The findings suggest that creating an autonomy-supportive and need-satisfying learning environment can improve motivation and well-being, guiding educators to enhance student experiences in HP programs.

Article Abstract

Background: Undergraduate students enrolled in Health Professions (HP) programs may experience challenges related to motivation and well-being. According to Self-Determination Theory, learning environments that support the three basic psychological needs (needs for autonomy, relatedness, competence) foster students' autonomous motivation and well-being. Little is known about the associations between basic psychological needs satisfaction, autonomous motivation, and well-being in the HP domain and how they relate to one another in an integrative model. This study assesses the associations of the path "basic psychological needs satisfaction-autonomous motivation-well-being" within HP.

Methods: We invited first-year students in the field of HP ( = 850) to fill out an electronic survey, measuring the satisfaction of each basic psychological need, autonomous motivation, and well-being and performed structural equation modelling to examine the paths between these variables.

Results: In total, 202 students completed the survey (response rate 23.8%). Our model had an acceptable model fit: CFI = 0.924, TLI = 0.916, RMSEA = 0.052, SRMR = 0.057, chi-square test of model fit = 688.678 ( < .001). Autonomy satisfaction was directly and positively associated with autonomous motivation. The satisfaction of relatedness and competence was directly and positively associated with well-being, and each of them explained approximately the same degree of strength in well-being. Autonomous motivation did not have a direct effect on well-being.

Conclusion: When students perceived their programs as autonomy supportive, they might develop higher autonomous motivation. Fostering students' relatedness and competence might enhance students' well-being. Teachers and curriculum designers can consider developing learning environments that support students' autonomy, relatedness, and competence.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11699180PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40670-024-02106-9DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

motivation well-being
20
autonomous motivation
16
basic psychological
16
psychological satisfaction
8
health professions
8
motivation
5
well-being
5
psychological
5
paths autonomous
4
well-being understanding
4

Similar Publications

Introduction: Behaviour change interventions have the potential to improve sanitation and hygiene practices in urban settings. However, evidence on which behaviour change interventions have successfully improved sanitation and hygiene practices in urban settings is unclear.

Methods: We performed electronic searches across five databases and one grey literature database to identify relevant studies published between January 1, 1990 and November 20, 2023 in English.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The effect of web-based breastfeeding education given to primiparous pregnant women: a randomised controlled study.

Afr J Reprod Health

December 2024

Department of Nursing Obstetrics and Gynaecology Nursing Department, Istanbul-Turkey.

This was a randomised controlled study to investigate the effect of web-based breastfeeding education given to primiparous pregnant women on postpartum breastfeeding. The study included a total of 120 primiparous pregnant women, including control group (n:60) and experimental group (n:60). The study was conducted in a district in northern Turkey.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The ability of environmental cues to trigger alcohol-seeking behaviours is thought to facilitate problematic alcohol use. Individuals' tendency to attribute incentive salience to cues may increase the risk of addiction. We sought to study the relationship between incentive salience and alcohol addiction using non-preferring rats to model the heterogeneity of human alcohol consumption, investigating both males and females.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Changes in Grocery Shopping Behavior among Low-Income Households during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Public Health Nutr

January 2025

Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University, 411 Lafayette St, 5th floor, New York, NY 10003.

Objective: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Online Purchasing Pilot (OPP) authorized the use of SNAP benefits online in Maryland in May 2020. We assessed shopping behavior and intentions associated with uptake and intended future use of online grocery shopping during and after COVID-19 among SNAP-eligible households.

Design: In this mixed-methods study, participants completed a survey on online grocery shopping, and a purposefully sampled subset participated in focus groups or in-depth interviews between November 2020 and March 2021.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The WHO has highlighted that: "promotion of e-cigarettes has led to marked increases in e-cigarette use by children and adolescents." The long-term neuropsychiatric and psychological consequences of substance abuse in adolescence is well recognised. Limited data exists on the adolescent burden of vaping-related nicotine addiction and behavioural and/or psychological dependence to guide pharmacological or behavioural interventions to stop electronic cigarette usage.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!