Students’ Academic Motivation in Golestan University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Students’ academic motivation is one of the most important challenges of universities, and has great effects on the outputs of educational systems. The aim of this study was to investigate of academic motivation status among students of Golestan University of Medical Sciences (GOUMS). Methods: In this descriptive- analytical study, 275 students of GOUMS were selected via stratified random sampling methods. Demographic data form and Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) was used as data gathering tool. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, independent t-test and one way ANOVA. In all tests, level of significance considered less than 0.05. Results: Mean and standard deviation of students’ academic motivation was 151.43±20.69 (out of 196), and 53.3 percent of them had academic motivation scores higher than average. The mean of academic motivation among females were higher than that of males (P=0.02). Age had significant correlation with extrinsic motivation (r=-0.144, P=0.002), amotivation (r=-0.221, P=0.000) and total score of academic motivation scale (r=-0.191, P=0.002). Nursing and midwifery students had the highest academic motivation scores, and medicine and paramedical faculty students were in the next rank, the differences were statistically significant. Conclusion: According to the finding, academic motivation of students was almost desirable. However, the students’ intrinsic motivation was not in appropriate level, which necessitates planed educational interventions. It is suggested that educational systems pay further attention to individual and environmental factors that affect academic motivation.