Self-efficacy beliefs of medical students: a critical review

Abstract

IntroductionSelf-efficacy is a theoretically and empirically robust motivation belief that has been shown to play an important role in the learning and development of new skills and knowledge. In this article, we critically review research on the self-efficacy beliefs of medical students, with a goal to evaluate the existing research and to strengthen future work. In particular, we sought to describe the state of research on medical student self-efficacy and to critically examine the conceptualization and measurement of the construct. Finally, we aimed to provide directions for future self-efficacy research.MethodsWe critically reviewed 74 published articles that included measures of self-efficacy beliefs of medical students.ResultsOur review showed that (a) research on the self-efficacy beliefs of medical students is growing and is becoming increasingly international, and (b) that nearly half (46%) of self-efficacy measures showed conceptual and operational flaws.DiscussionOur critical review of 74 research studies on self-efficacy of medical students found that although research in the field is increasing, nearly half of measures labelled as self-efficacy were incongruent with the conceptual guidelines set by self-efficacy experts. We provide five suggestions for future research on the self-efficacy of medical students.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s40037-018-0411-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The impact of self‐efficacy on employees' ability to accept new technology in an Iraqi university

“…The first is a belief in one's competence to deal with a wide range of stressful or challenging demands; the second represents a specific and bounded competence (Luszczynska, Scholz, & Schwarzer, ). General self‐efficacy is not the expectation or belief of each challenge, but the total of a person's expectations and experiences of failure and success (Klassen & Klassen, ). One's degree of specific self‐efficacy is useful in predicting specific behaviors (for example, dealing with computers), while the degree of general self‐efficacy can help predict broader behavior.…”

“…Self‐efficacy is a good predictor of behavior toward unfamiliar threats (Klassen & Klassen, ). This behavior prediction depends on past failures and successes.…”

Motivation to access laparoscopic skills training: Results of a Canadian survey of obstetrics and gynecology residents

“…As stronger self-efficacy beliefs are shown to positively correlate with personal accomplishment and general psychological well-being and negatively correlate with emotional exhaustion in surgical residents [27], the facilitation of self-efficacy by surgical educators through feedback, coaching, and directed educational opportunities is important to both the well-being of surgical residents and their achievement. Further, although research exploring self-efficacy beliefs in medical education is growing [28], our review of the literature suggests our study is among the first to explore self-efficacy beliefs for minimally invasive surgery during surgical residency training. As we move towards CBME, there may be a novel opportunity to explore this trajectory in a longitudinal fashion.…”

Medición de la Autoeficacia para la Escritura Académica. Una Revisión Teórico-Bibliográfica

“…Bandura (1977Bandura ( , 2006 señala que la autoeficacia debe ser estudiada respecto a un dominio de competencias o a una tarea en un contexto específico y concreto ya que una persona podría tener altos niveles de autoeficacia en un dominio y bajo en otro. De acuerdo con la conceptualización de este autor, la autoeficacia se caracteriza por: (a) creencias sobre acciones futuras, no desempeño pasado; (b) creencias sobre capacidades, no expectativas de resultados; (c) especificidad de dominio, no evaluación de rasgos generalizados (Klassen y Klassen, 2018).…”

“…A fin de deslindar más claramente el concepto en cuestión, es útil distinguir la autoeficacia de otros constructos como el autoconcepto, que refiere a autopercepciones multidimensionales orientadas al pasado; autoestima, que alude a juicios personales de un individuo sobre su propio valor; locus de control, que apunta a las creencias generalizadas de que las acciones afectan los resultados; y la confianza, ya que esta refleja en sí mismo la fuerza de la creencia (ella es una persona segura de sí misma), pero no el objetivo o dominio específico para esa creencia (Klassen y Klassen, 2018). Por otro lado, la autoeficacia se relaciona estrechamente con la motivación (Boscolo y Hidi, 2017), de manera que, en una situación académica, los alumnos o profesores con una alta autoeficacia tendrían mayor motivación para aprender, lo que se traduciría en un mayor rendimiento académico, el que, a su vez, incrementaría la percepción de autoeficacia (Honicke y Broadbent, 2016).…”