The Association Among Achievement Goal Orientations, Academic Performance, and Academic Well-Being Among Chinese Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Understanding the interplay of self-regulated learning strategies in medical education: A cross-sectional structural equation modeling study

Background and Aims

Although previous studies have investigated self-regulated learning strategies, a holistic study has not been conducted on note-taking, environmental structuring, self-evaluation, and self-consequence strategies among medical students. The current study focused on the relationships between these four self-regulated learning strategies in a medical context.

Methods

A conceptual model of the four strategies was developed, supported by the relevant literature. This cross-sectional study used an electronic structured questionnaire. The sample consisted of 557 medical undergraduates. The data were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to investigate the hypothetical model.

Results

The conceptual model fits the data well. All relationships between the strategies were significantly positive, except for a regression between environmental structuring and self-evaluation, which was nonsignificant. Self-evaluation strategies represented the highest mean, whereas self-consequence strategies represented the lowest.

Conclusion

The findings of this study have implications for medical students, their teachers, and their universities regarding ways to enhance learners' regulated learning strategies. Future research should be conducted to develop additional statistical and comparison models for use in experimental studies and longitudinal investigations.

S, Pathak A. Finding and Maintaining Motivation in Medical School

Medicine is a line of work in which expectations run high, having a competitive spirit is considered a virtue and relentless hard work is deemed a reward in itself. Yet, in a strenuous environment such as this, communication about the struggles medical students face is found to be almost non-existent. This leads to medical students feeling burnt out, lost and inadequate, bringing about a drop in performance quality and/or quantity, which breeds further insecurity. This acts as a vicious cycle that is further perpetuated by the lack of effective communication, which becomes a bedrock for the deficit in support from peer groups, educators and authorities. There are different theories of motivation and these form the basis for exploring the different ways in which it can be increased. These methods, which contribute to enhancing productivity and curtailing stress, are detailed in the article.

Keywords

cognition; medical students; motivation; self-concept.

A Cross-Sectional Study of Individual Learning Passion in Medical Education: Understanding Self-Development in Positive Psychology

Background

Boosting the individual learning passion of medical students is a novel approach to improve their academic performance. It facilitates the medical education reform, motivating both policymakers and educators to focus on the function of positive psychology in the career development of medical students. Therefore, this study aimed (1) to assess the status of two types of learning passion; (2) to clarify the relationship between self-esteem and two types of learning passion among Chinese medical students; (3) to examine the mediating role of psychological capital (PsyCap) in the relationship between self-esteem and two types of learning passion, respectively; and (4) to identify the moderating role of professional identity in the relationship between PsyCap and two types of learning passion, respectively.

Methods

A cross-sectional online survey was conducted from April to June 2016 in China. A total of 1,218 valid questionnaires (effective completion rate: 67.93%) were collected from four medical schools.

Results

Self-esteem significantly and positively influenced medical students’ PsyCap (β = 0.637, P < 0.01) and two types of learning passion, including harmonious learning passion (β = 0.589, P < 0.01) and obsessive learning passion (β = 0.436, P < 0.01). PsyCap fully mediated the relationship (β = 0.578, P < 0.01) between self-esteem and harmonious learning passion positively, whereas it suppressed the relationship (β = 0.490, P < 0.01) between self-esteem and obsessive learning passion. Further, professional identity significantly moderated the correlation between PsyCap and harmonious learning passion (β = −0.554, P < 0.05), rather than obsessive learning passion (P > 0.05).

Conclusion

Two types of learning passion of medical students are positively influenced by self-esteem and PsyCap. Medical students with high-level self-esteem should possess strong PsyCap, which augments their harmonious as well as obsessive learning passion. Moreover, the positive effect of medical students’ PsyCap on harmonious learning passion is more notable among those with a lower professional identity. Finally, this study argues that strengths-based interventions of self-esteem and PsyCap are a beneficial approach for future enhancing learning passion in the domain of medical education.

English as a Foreign Language Teachers' Well-Being, Their Apprehension, and Stress: The Mediating Role of Hope and Optimism

Studies have shown that teachers' wellbeing has a positive effect on teachers' learning quality and learners' performance. Nevertheless, teaching is a stressful and exhausting profession at all academic level with special difficulties about the nature of language education. Tension and fear are still classic challenges in learning, though the concepts such as hope and optimism are core issues in assisting teachers to feel happy during instruction and work longer. The present review makes efforts to provide the most current confirmation on the interface of hope and optimism with educational issues since they are progressively documented as significant emotional capitals for educational success, job growth, and presentation. It is worth mentioning that the current review of research can benefit educational administrations, and other stakeholders and officials in the educational community to contemplate the functions of constructive emotions in the process of learning to decrease and even diminish stress and apprehension that consequently lead to flourishing.