The effects of social concern goals on the value of learning and on the intentions of medical students to change their majors

BACKGROUND In the process of developing a professional medical expertise, goals can become a psychological impetus and act as a source of retaining an individual's persistency. Therefore, the goals of medical students should be considered when designing a curriculum for health professions. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to examine relative effects of goal categories on the value of learning and intention to change one's major. METHOD Data were obtained from the Korea Education Longitudinal Study, which included 1938 representative Korean college freshmen majoring in medicine, engineering, natural science and humanities. They answered a survey questionnaire about goal categories (i.e., social concern, affiliation, self-growth, leisure, wealth, and fame), the value of learning, and intention to change one's major. RESULTS For medical students, social concern goals were positively related to the value of learning and negatively related to the intention to change one's major. Social concern goals decreased the intention to change one's major directly, and also indirectly through increased value of learning. CONCLUSION Providing context for enhancing medical students' social concern goals is necessary in a medical training curriculum, not only for the students' professional development but also for improving society. ABBREVIATIONS GCT: Goal contents theory GPA: Grade point average KELS: Korea education longitudinal study SDLA: Self-directed learning abilities SDT: Self-determination theory.