Self-determination theory in ophthalmology education: factors influencing autonomy, competence and relatedness in medical students

ABSTRACT

Background

The affective components of learning, including student motivation, has yet to be thoroughly investigated in undergraduate ophthalmology education. This study aims to use Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as a framework to describe the variations in student perceptions of motivation in studying ophthalmology through their satisfactions of autonomy, competence and relatedness, and to highlight factors that stimulate or hinder this.

Methods

Penultimate year medical students from a single tertiary educational institution undertaking a clinical placement in ophthalmology participated in in-depth interviews to explore factors affecting their perceptions of motivation in studying ophthalmology. Interviews were transcribed and analysed according to the principles of interpretive phenomenography through the theoretical framework of SDT.

Results

Of the 39 students invited, 10 agreed to participate. Variations in perceptions of experiences generated the outcome space. Participants experienced either amotivation, external locus extrinsic motivation, internal locus extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation (conceptions of the outcome space). This was described with respect to their satisfaction of autonomy, competence and relatedness (dimensions of the outcome space). Additionally, 21 factors that impacted on motivation were identified, of which five over-arching factors impacted all three basic psychological needs – guidance, growth mindset, assessment, curricular pressure and extracurricular pressure.

Conclusions

The findings of this study provide a unique insight into the motivation of medical students studying ophthalmology. This provides an exciting opportunity for medical educators to address the affective aspect of learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Medical education
• motivation
• ophthalmology
• Self-determination theory
• phenomenography

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the students who participated in this study and shared their experiences with us.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Authors’ contributions

All authors have given their approval to submit this manuscript; more specifically, Deepaysh D.C.S. Dutt has been the main researcher in study design and data collection, analysis, interpretation, as well as writing of this manuscript. Hessom Razavi has contributed to the analysis, writing and review of each draft of this manuscript. Sandra E. Carr was essential and consulted during the design, analysis and interpretation and contributed to the writing and review of each draft of this manuscript. All authors were involved in critically revising the manuscript.

Authors’ information

Deepaysh D.C.S. Dutt, BSc, MD is amedical doctor completing his Master of Health Professions Education at The University of Western Australia.

Hessom Razavi, MBBS, BSc, MSc (Hons),FRCOphth, FRANZCO is a consultant ophthalmologist at the Lions Eye Institute and the coordinator for ophthalmology teaching at The University of WesternAustralia.

Sandra E. Carr, BSc, MPH, PhD, SFHEA,is Head, Discipline of Health Professions Education at The University ofWestern Australia.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2023.2258633

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the Human Ethics and Research (HERC) committee of University of Western Australia with consideration of participant confidentiality managed. All methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

There are no sources of funding to disclose for this study.