The roles of basic psychological needs, self-compassion, and self-efficacy in the development of mastery goals among medical students

Abstract

Aim: Competency-based medical education aims to foster mastery goals in learners. We examined medical students’ mastery approach (beneficial) and mastery avoidance (maladaptive) goals and their associations with students’ basic psychological needs, self-compassion, and self-efficacy.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study employing an online questionnaire. Two hundred medical students in all four years of the medical program completed the questionnaire, containing measures of mastery goals, basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, relatedness), self-compassion, and self-efficacy. Regression analyses were performed.

Results: Of the three basic psychological needs, the need for competence was significant in explaining both types of mastery goals. Self-efficacy and self-compassion were significant in explaining mastery approach and mastery avoidance goals, respectively.

Conclusions: Creating learning environments that are supportive of students’ need for competence, raising students’ awareness of the value of learning from mistakes in competency acquisition, and providing opportunities for students to experience self-efficacy may foster beneficial mastery approach goals in medical students.

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge medical students for their participation in the study and the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta, Canada.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada [grant # 430-2016-00267].