How medical students’ perceptions of instructor autonomy-support mediate their motivation and psychological well-being

Neufeld, Adam; Malin, Greg

doi:10.1080/0142159x.2020.1726308

Cited by 52 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…As mentioned, a potentially important avenue for achieving this may involve finding ways to facilitate more autonomy for medical learners during their clerkship (e.g., see Neufeld and Malin [79]). Studies suggest that promoting medical learner autonomy may also reduce their perceived stress and increase their ability to be mindful and resilient, which are also key to healthy coping and well-being [76,80,81].…”

Section: Implications In Medical Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

How medical students cope with stress: a cross-sectional look at strategies and their sociodemographic antecedents

Neufeld

Malin

2021

BMC Med Educ

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Background Medical training can be highly stressful for students and negatively impact their mental health. Important to this matter are the types of coping strategies (and their antecedents) medical students use, which are only characterized to a limited extent. A better understanding of these phenomena can shed additional light on ways to support the health and well-being of medical students. Accordingly, we sought to determine medical students’ use of various coping reactions to stress and how their gender and year of study influence those behaviours. Methods A total of 400 University of Saskatchewan medical students were invited to complete an online survey. Using the Brief COPE inventory, we assessed students’ reported use of various adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies. Descriptive and comparative statistics were performed, including multivariate analysis of variance, to explore how gender and year influenced coping strategies. Results The participation rate was 49% (47% males and 53% females). Overall, the students’ coping strategies were mostly adaptive, albeit with a few exceptions. Females used more behavioural disengagement, while males used less emotional and instrumental support. Additionally, third years used more denial to cope with stress than students in any other year. Conclusions While few studies report significant sociodemographic effects on medical student coping, our findings raise the possibility that males and females do engage in different coping strategies in medical school, and that the clinical learning environment in third year may provoke more dysfunctional coping, compared to pre-clinical stages of training. Potential explanations and implications of these results are discussed.

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Section: Implications In Medical Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

How medical students cope with stress: a cross-sectional look at strategies and their sociodemographic antecedents

Neufeld

Malin

2021

BMC Med Educ

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“…parents, teachers, mentors) they wish to assimilate with or emulate (Ryan and Deci, 2017)-in this case, with medical learners, from their physician role models. In support of this, Neufeld and Malin (2020b) found that feelings of relatedness, over autonomy and competence, emerged as the strongest mediator of the relationship between medical learners' perceptions of instructor autonomy-support and their psychological well-being. These findings suggest that medical educators may support learner autonomy best, by prioritizing their feelings of relatedness.…”

Section: Relatednessmentioning

confidence: 82%

Autonomy-Supportive Teaching in Medicine: From Motivational Theory to Educational Practice

Neufeld¹

2021

MedEdPublish

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Introduction: Promoting intrinsic motivation in medical learners is key for maximizing their engagement, performance, and well-being. Accordingly, methods of teaching and giving feedback focused on enhancing intrinsic motivation (i.e. autonomy-supportive approaches) are becoming increasingly recognized in medical education. However, these methods seem to be limited by a lack of understanding around what autonomy-support means and how to put it into practice.Approach: Grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT), this article defines autonomy-supportive versus controlling teaching, provides a rationale for its importance in medical education, addresses common misconceptions and potential challenges surrounding autonomy-supportive teaching in medicine, and outlines specific examples of ways to engage in it, in both clinical and non-clinical settings. Conclusion:Overall, this paper highlights how simple, flexible, and beneficial it can be to utilize an autonomysupportive style in one's day-to-day interactions with medical learners, to stimulate their intrinsic motivation. These strategies can be applied in practically any setting and at all levels in medical education, through regular practice and reflection.

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“…Other research supports that fostering medical students' needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness is enough to optimize their engagement, academic performance, and mental health. 16,17,18 In view of this, the ethos of PULSE and its research, which are grounded in SDT, is humanistic and person-focused (and not performance or outcomesfocused). It therefore focuses on promoting students' basic needs for optimal motivation and feelings of confidence in their developing skills-aspects that otherwise come under threat during medical school.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a better understanding of medical students’ mentorship needs: a self-determination theory perspective

et al. 2021

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Introduction: Mentorship programs are ubiquitous in medical education. However, few emphasize equal development for learners and mentors, or incorporate clinical skills, which may be important for promoting medical students’ self-determination. Central to this consideration are the three basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, described by Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Grounded in SDT, this study assesses the extent that meeting these needs, in a near-peer mentoring program, impacts learners’ and mentors’ motivation and perceived competence about learning and teaching of clinical knowledge, respectively. Methods: Medical students from the University of Saskatchewan, who participated in its near-peer mentoring program (PULSE: Peers United in Leadership & Skills Enhancement), were invited to complete an anonymous survey. Regression was used to determine how the program’s learning climate impacted learners’ and mentors’ psychological need satisfaction and perceived competence within their mentorship role. Results: Learners and mentors both rated PULSE as highly needs-satisfying. In turn, this was associated with greater perceived competence about learning and teaching of the material. Conclusions: Findings from this study suggest that mentoring programs in medical education, which support learners’ basic psychological needs, may promote their motivation and perceived competence—both about learning and also teaching of clinical skills. The implications of these results are discussed from an SDT perspective, with respect to mentoring programs in medical education.

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How medical students’ perceptions of instructor autonomy-support mediate their motivation and psychological well-being

Cited by 52 publications

References 44 publications

How medical students cope with stress: a cross-sectional look at strategies and their sociodemographic antecedents

How medical students cope with stress: a cross-sectional look at strategies and their sociodemographic antecedents

Autonomy-Supportive Teaching in Medicine: From Motivational Theory to Educational Practice

Towards a better understanding of medical students’ mentorship needs: a self-determination theory perspective

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