Achievement motivation level in students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences and its influential factors

INTRODUCTION Many studies have investigated the relationship between motivation and educational outcomes. The present study was conducted to determine whether the students' motivation in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS) decreases during educational years. METHODS 770 students in SUMS were selected by multi-stage stratified random sampling from each field and entrance year. The first questionnaire contained 57 questions on the effect of economic, social, educational, geographical and personality factors on the students' motivation. The second one was based on 50 incomplete sentences. The validity and reliability of these questionnaires were approved by the experts and Cronbach's Alpha coefficients (85% and 90%, respectively). In this cross-sectional study, ANOVA, t-test and Chi-square tests were applied for data analysis at the 0.05 significance level. RESULTS Six factors with the most effect on academic motivation were "family attitudes", "getting good jobs in future", "respect for themselves", " the ability to learn", "believing their role in victory and defeat" and "the tendency toward optimism about themselves". In addition, comparing professional doctorate and basic sciences' results revealed no significant relationship between academic motivation and educational years (F=0.819, p=0.397). But comparing field by field showed that Dentistry and Hospital Management and Medical Information (HMMI) had a significant decrease in motivation score by increase in educational years (F=3.991, p=0.015). CONCLUSION Achievement motivation level in SUMS students was higher than average and did not decrease during educational years. Also, the results showed that personal, social and educational related factors affected motivation level more than economic and environmental factors.