Understanding the relationship of academic motivation and social support in graduate nursing education in Egypt.

BACKGROUND: Obtaining a postgraduate nursing education in Egypt requires substantial resources, including a robust academic drive and supportive relationships. These resources help students overcome challenges and navigate their educational journey. This study examines the relationship between academic motivation and social support among nursing graduate students. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at two nursing colleges in Egypt, involving 410 randomly selected graduate students. MEASURES: The Academic Motivation Scale-College Version (AMS-C 28) and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) were used. FINDINGS: Findings revealed a statistically significant positive relationship between academic motivation and perceived social support (r = 0.515, p < 0.001). Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that 12.9% (Adjusted R² = 0.129) of the variance in academic motivation could be explained by perceived social support and level of education. CONCLUSION: This study pinpointed intrinsic motivation as the primary impetus for graduate nursing students. Robust social support and active participation in social and recreational activities were also significant motivators. Nursing education programs can enhance intrinsic motivation by integrating authentic learning experiences, providing empowering mentorship, offering condensed doctoral programs, and ensuring substantial peer support. The exploration of the role of novelty in graduate nursing education, facilitated by innovative teaching methods such as collaborative virtual reality simulations, gamification, and team-based research projects, can be advantageous. Building robust social networks is vital for establishing a supportive and motivating learning environment for nursing graduates in Egypt.

Relationship between perceived value, attitudes, and academic motivation in distance learning among nursing students in rural areas.

BACKGROUND: Nursing students manifest a distinct level of intellect and comprehension, impacting their attitudes and perceived significance of distance learning in education. This study examined the attitudes, perceived value, and academic motivation surrounding distance learning among Jordanian nursing students, offering insights crucial to optimizing their educational journey. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used. A convenience sample of 298 undergraduate Jordanian nursing students was recruited from two public universities in rural cities in south Jordan. Data were collected via self-reported instruments (June 2022 to August 2022). A Pearson correlation and independent t-test were used to examine the relationship between variables. RESULTS: The mean age of students was 20.9 years (SD = 1.16), and most students have a low perceived value of distance learning (n = 181, 60.7%). Most students (n = 179, 60.1%) have negative attitudes toward distance learning, and only 39.9% reflected positive attitudes. More than half of the participants (n = 166, 55.7%) reflected less academic motivation toward distance learning. Positive significant relationships were found between students' perceived value of distance learning and their attitudes and academic motivation toward distance learning; low perceived value of distance learning was related significantly with low attitudes (r = 0.844, p < 0.01) and less academic motivation toward it (r = 0.721, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Nursing students' perceived value, attitudes, and academic motivation toward DL in rural regions is inadequate. Educators must provide valuable visions to expand the quality of health education in rural universities and improve health care.

Longitudinal associations between academic competence-building and depression symptoms in early adolescence.

The longitudinal associations between academic competence-building and depression symptoms were investigated among 741 early adolescents in Singapore. Extending from past studies on academic achievement and depression, the current research tested two competing hypotheses - the academic incompetence hypothesis versus the adjustment erosion hypothesis using a 3-wave longitudinal study over an academic year. The former hypothesis suggests that prior deficits in academic competence-building lead to subsequent depression symptoms, whereas the latter posits that previous depression leads to subsequent deficits in competence-building. Longitudinal associations between a higher-order competence-building factor (operationalized using multiple constituent motivational variables) and depression were examined using a random intercept cross-lagged panel model. Results indicated that within-individual decreases in competence-building prospectively predicted subsequent within-individual increases in depression symptoms, but the opposite effect was not observed. Within-individual fluctuations in competence-building also predicted end-of-year grades and teacher-reported adjustment problems. Overall, the current findings were consistent with the academic incompetence hypothesis, suggesting that interventions aimed at sustaining academic competence-building could offer protection against the worsening of depression. These results clarified the within-individual developmental dynamics between academic competence-building and depression symptoms in adolescents over time.

Development and validation of the Workplace Learning Inventory in Health Sciences Education: a multimethod study.

Health sciences students face many challenges in regard to clinical practical learning. A better understanding of student learning is required to address student needs in this crucial phase. The theory of self-regulated learning provides a comprehensive view of learning and could serve as a basis for further research. There are instruments to assess self-regulated learning in preclinical academic learning. However, there are no such instruments for workplace learning. The aim of the present study is to provide a comprehensive inventory from which researchers can select those scales that are relevant to their research questions in the investigation of workplace learning. Hence, the aim is to develop and validate a set of scales to assess undergraduates' workplace learning in health sciences education in four areas (cognition, motivation, emotion, and context) on two levels (the learning process level and the metalevel). Study 1 is a qualitative multimethod study to identify indicators and develop items. It integrates the perspectives of students, teachers, and researchers and includes six steps: literature review, interviews, synthesis, item development, expert review, and cognitive pretesting. This study yields a set of scales for each area on both levels. Study 2 is a quantitative study to assess the psychometric properties. The results show acceptable values in terms of unidimensionality, reliability and validity for each of the 31 scales. The newly developed Workplace Learning Inventory is comprehensive; the scales are relevant to workplace learning and short enough that their administration is feasible in the workplace setting. The rigorous process of questionnaire development contributes to the validity of scales. By providing the Workplace Learning Inventory, we hope to encourage research on workplace learning in health sciences education from an educational psychology perspective.

The relationship between social support and academic engagement among university students: the chain mediating effects of life satisfaction and academic motivation.

BACKGROUND: University students' academic engagement has a significant impact on their academic performance and career development. METHODS: In order to explore the influential mechanisms of social support on university students' academic engagement and the mediating role of academic motivation and life satisfaction, this study used the Adolescent Social Support Scale, University Students' Academic Engagement Scale Questionnaire, Adolescent Student Life Satisfaction Scale and University Students' Academic Motivation Questionnaire, to conduct a questionnaire survey and empirical analysis on 2106 Chinese university students. RESULTS: (1) social support significantly and positively predicts academic engagement; (2) social support influences academic engagement through the mediating effect of life satisfaction; (3) social support influences academic engagement through the mediating effect of academic motivation; (4) life satisfaction and academic motivation play a chain mediating role in the effect of social support on academic engagement. CONCLUSIONS: This study contributes to understanding the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between social support and academic engagement, which in turn provides insights for universities and the departments concerned to make measures to improve the level of university students' academic engagement.

Validating a measure of motivational climate in health science courses.

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to examine the validity evidence for the 19-item form of the MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation Inventory (College Student version) within health science schools in three different countries. The MUSIC Inventory includes five scales that assess the motivational climate by measuring students' perceptions related to five separate constructs: empowerment, usefulness, success, interest, and caring. BACKGROUND: The 26-item form of the MUSIC Inventory has been validated for use with undergraduate students and with students in professional schools, including students at a veterinary medicine school, a pharmacy school, and a medical school. A 19-item form of the MUSIC Inventory has also been validated for use with undergraduate students, but it has not yet been validated for use with medical school students. The purpose of this study was to provide validity evidence for the use of the 19-item form in heath science schools in three different countries to determine if this version is acceptable for use in different cultures. If validated, this shorter form of the MUSIC Inventory would provide more differentiation between the Interest and Usefulness scales and could reduce respondent fatigue. METHODOLOGY: Cook et al's [1] practical guidelines were followed to implement Kane's [2] validity framework as a means to examine the evidence of validity through scoring inferences, generalization inferences, and extrapolation inferences. Students (n = 667) in health science schools within three countries were surveyed. RESULTS: The results produced evidence to support all five hypotheses related to scoring, generalization, and extrapolation inferences. CONCLUSIONS: Scores from the 19-item form of the MUSIC Inventory are valid for use in health science courses within professional schools in different countries. Therefore, the MUSIC Inventory can be used in these schools to assess students' perceptions of the motivational climate.

Parents' Self-Development Socialization Goals and Chinese Adolescents' Academic Motivation: The Mediating Role of Parents' Autonomy Support.

The socialization goals parents hold for their adolescents, which reflect the qualities, skills, or behaviors they want their adolescents to acquire, play an important role in shaping adolescents' adjustment via parenting practices. Nevertheless, there is a lack of studies that examine the longitudinal implications of parents' socialization goals for adolescents' academic motivation, especially in non-Western cultures. Moreover, evidence is still scarce regarding the full process from parents' socialization goals to parenting practices and further to adolescents' academic adjustment. To address these gaps, the current two-wave longitudinal study spanning one year examined whether two critical socialization goals endorsed by parents in Chinese culture, namely self-development (i.e., parents wanting adolescents to be unique, autonomous, and self-assertive) and academic achievement socialization goals (i.e., parents wanting adolescents to achieve academic success), predicted Chinese adolescents' academic motivation over time via parents' autonomy support. Two hundred and eighty-five Chinese adolescents (Mean age = 12.29 years, SD = 0.64, range = 11-14, 51% girls) reported on perceived parental socialization goals and autonomy support, as well as different aspects of their own academic motivation (i.e., academic interest, mastery orientation, and persistent responses to academic failure). Results showed that perceived parents' self-development socialization goals positively predicted adolescents' academic motivation one year later, which was mediated by parents' increased autonomy support. The findings highlight the positive role of parents' self-development socialization goals in Chinese adolescents' academic adjustment in the changing society, and identify the underlying socialization processes via parenting practices.

Motivation of UK graduate students in education: self-compassion moderates pathway from extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation.

Academic motivation is recognised as a key factor for academic success and wellbeing. Highly motivated students actively engage with academic activities and maintain good wellbeing. Despite the importance of motivation in education, its relationship with engagement and wellbeing remains to be evaluated. Accordingly, this study explored the relationships between motivation, engagement, self-criticism and self-compassion among UK education postgraduate students. Of 120 postgraduate students approached, 109 completed three self-report scales regarding those constructs. Correlation, regression and moderation analyses were performed. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were positively associated with engagement, whereas amotivation was negatively associated with it. Engagement positively predicted intrinsic motivation. Self-criticism and self-compassion moderated the pathway from extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation: higher self-criticism weakened the pathway, while higher self-compassion strengthened it. Findings suggest the importance of engagement in relation to cultivating intrinsic motivation of education students. Moreover, enhancing self-compassion and reducing self-criticism can help transfer extrinsic to intrinsic motivation.

Nature, implications and determinants of academic motivation profiles among upper elementary and secondary students.

The present study sought to contribute to self-determination theory by examining the nature of adolescents' academic motivation profiles defined while considering its global and specific nature. The construct validity of these profiles was examined by considering their replicability across samples of upper elementary (n = 781) and secondary (n = 467) school students, as well as their associations with predictors (perceived parental need nurturing behaviors) and outcomes (academic achievement and expectations of success). Latent profile analyses revealed four profiles (Non-Motivated, Identified, Amotivated, and Strongly Motivated) characterized by differing levels of global and specific levels of academic motivation. These profiles were fully replicated across educational levels. Most profiles differed from one another in terms of outcomes, although differences in terms of outcomes associations were observed across educational levels. Finally, profile membership was predicted by global levels of need nurturing and by some of the specific need nurturing behaviors in a way that replicated across educational levels. Our results suggest that the specific qualities of academic motivation and the global levels of self-determination are equally important in the identification of academic motivation profiles. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-023-04687-x.

"Nothing replaces meeting my students at class": Analysing academics' views regarding distance education.

Distance education, also called distance learning, e-learning, and online learning, is a practice of teaching and learning in which teachers and learners are not in a closed class or room in person, but where education takes place through various new-media technologies and all parties (student-teacher, teacher-teacher, student-student) are able to communicate, interact and exchange information and emotions. Being on the agenda of educational science for a long time now and gaining further importance during COVID-19 lockdowns, both advantages (e.g., reducing social anxiety, and a flexible schedule) and disadvantages (lack of social interactivity, and miscommunication) of distance education are highly debated in the related literature. Therefore, this study, through a qualitative method (i.e., a case study design and semi-structured interviews), aims to analyse the opinions and experiences of academics regarding distance education and its applications. The participants consist of 36 lecturers working at 16 different Turkish universities selected by the purposeful sampling method (i.e., typical case sampling). The results suggest that the participants still have doubts about online distance education, and they mention both ups (ease of connection, and cost-effectiveness) and downs (lack of self-motivation, socialization, and the sense of isolation) of it. Nonetheless, none of the academics thinks distance education will replace an in-person learning environment in the near future. Thus, this study presents a general illustration of distance education activities through the views of Turkish academics and gives recommendations for future digital/distance/online learning activities and functionalities.

Pathways to Student Motivation: A Meta-Analysis of Antecedents of Autonomous and Controlled Motivations.

Students' self-determined motivation (acting out of interest, curiosity, and abiding values) is associated with higher academic well-being, persistence, and achievement. Self-determination theory posits that self-determined motivation is dependent on the satisfaction of three psychological needs (relatedness, competence, and autonomy), which are in turn facilitated through need-supportive behaviors from notable others. In this meta-analysis, conducted over 144 studies and more than 79,000 students, we sought to overview pathways to student motivation in order to verify (1) how do psychological needs rank in the strength of their prediction of self-determined motivation and (2) which autonomy-support providers (parents or teachers) are the most relevant for psychological need satisfaction in students and self-determined motivation. Results show that teacher autonomy support predicts students' need satisfaction and self-determined motivation more strongly than parental autonomy support. In addition, competence is the most positive predictor of self-determined motivation, followed by autonomy and then by relatedness.

The impact of social problem skills on academic motivation by means of Covid-19 fear: A SEM Model: Social Problem Solving, Covid-19, Academic Motivation.

Recent studies have investigated the relationship between the social problem-solving skills and academic motivation; nevertheless, new studies should examine the relationships between the social problem solving and academic motivation taking the effect of Covid-19 fear into consideration. As a result of this, in this study, it was aimed to a construct structural equation model by which the impacts of social problem-solving skills on academic motivation by means of Covid-19 fear were studied. Therefore, 513 university students participated in the study and completed Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Short Form, the Fear of Covid-19 Scale, and Academic Motivation Scale. The SEM model analysis indicated that rational problem solving, negative orientation to problem, impulsive/careless style and avoidant style predicted %15 of the Covid-19 fear. Altogether rational problem solving, negative orientation to problem, impulsive/careless style, avoidant style, positive orientation to problem and Covid-19 fear explained %32 of the academic motivation.

Teachers' and school administrators' perceptions of emergency distance education.

This research was conducted to determine the perceptions of school administrators and teachers about Covid-19 and distance education. The research is a descriptive study conducted to reflect the specific characteristics of the participants. In this context, the research model is the scanning model. In the population of the study, 31 school administrators and 156 teachers voluntarily participated in a province of Turkey in the 2020-2021 academic year. An easily accessible situation sampling technique was used in determining the participants. Within the scope of the research, a distance education satisfaction questionnaire was developed based on the experiences of the researcher himself, and an information form containing the personal information of the participants was used to collect data. The data within the scope of the research were collected by sending the data collection tool prepared online to school administrators and teachers. The data collection tool was delivered to participants via WhatsApp groups via google forms. While analyzing the data obtained within the scope of the study, descriptive statistical analyzes were made in all questions and basic statistical values ​​such as frequency, percentage, standard deviation, mode, median was reported. At the end of the study, it was determined that half of the participants did not consider the distance education conducted in their schools during the epidemic period to be sufficient. Administrators and teachers; 49.7% of them stated that they could partially benefit from distance education while conducting the lessons, 40.1% stated that it is not appropriate to conduct the lessons with distance education, and 10.2% stated that all the lessons could be conducted by distance education.

Investigating students' E-Learning attitudes in times of crisis (COVID-19 pandemic).

With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the world, the vast majority of students in various educational institutions around the world have changed their learning styles from the physical classroom to digital learning education. Especially the fact that university students take their lessons with e-learning in times of crisis (COVID-19 pandemic) has forced them to spend more time with the computer. This situation will also affect their academic motivation. This research aimed to test whether the fear of contracting COVID-19 (CoVFC) had a moderating effect on the prediction of preservice teachers' academic motivation (AMOTV) with their computer self-efficacy perceptions (CSE). With a combined approach, a single model was employed to test the moderating role of CoVFC and the mediating role of Attitudes towards E-Learning (ATEL) in the prediction of preservice teachers' AMOTV with their CSE. 522 preservice teachers from 21 different branches participated in this research. As a result of the research, the CSE of preservice teachers were determined to predict their AMOTV significantly and positively. The increase in CoVFC was found to have a negative moderating effect on the prediction of AMOTV with the CSE of preservice teachers. Also, ATEL was found to have a partial mediating effect in the relationship between the CSE and AMOTV of preservice teachers.

Integrating online meta-cognitive learning strategy and team regulation to develop students' programming skills, academic motivation, and refusal self-efficacy of Internet use in a cloud classroom.

With the development of technology and demand for online courses, there have been considerable quantities of online, blended, or flipped courses designed and provided. However, in the technology-enhanced learning environments, which are also full of social networking websites, shopping websites, and free online games, it is challenging to focus students' attention and help them achieve satisfactory learning performance. In addition, the instruction of programming courses constantly challenges both teachers and students, particularly in online learning environments. To overcome and solve these problems and to facilitate students' learning, the researchers in this study integrated two teaching approaches, using meta-cognitive learning strategy (MCLS) and team regulation (TR), to develop students' regular learning habits and further contribute to their programming skills, academic motivation, and refusal self-efficacy of Internet use, in a cloud classroom. In this research, a quasi-experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of MCLS and TR adopting the experimental design of a 2 (MCLS vs. non-MCLS) × 2 (TR vs. non-TR) factorial pre-test/post-test. In this research, the participants consisted of four classes of university students from non-information or computer departments enrolled in programming design, a required course. The experimental groups comprised three of the classes, labelled as G1, G2, and G3. G1 concurrently received both the online MCLS and TR intervention, while G2 only received the online MCLS intervention, and G3 only received the online TR intervention. Serving as the control group, the fourth class (G4) received traditional teaching. This study investigated the effects of MCLS, TR, and their combination, on improving students' programming skills, academic motivation, and refusal self-efficacy of Internet use in an online computing course. According to the results, students who received online TR significantly enhanced their programming design skills and their refusal self-efficacy of Internet use a cloud classroom. However, the expected effects of MCLS on developing students' programming skills, academic motivation, and refusal self-efficacy of Internet use were not found in this study. The teaching strategy of integrating MCLS and TR in an online programming course in this study can serve as a reference for educators when conducting online, blended, or flipped courses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Effects of social support in an academic context on low-grade inflammation in high school students.

Bolstering academic motivation is a high priority in school settings, but some evidence suggests this could take a toll on students' physical health. To address this, this study compared the effects of an experimental manipulation of academic motivation alone (AM) to academic motivation enhanced with social support (SS + AM) on markers of inflammation in a sample of 80 high school 9th graders. Outcomes included low-grade inflammation: C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6); a motivation measure; and grade point average (GPA), taken at baseline and follow-up (beginning and end of school year, respectively). Students in the SS + AM condition had lower levels of inflammation at follow-up (covarying baseline levels) compared to those in the AM condition. The two groups were equivalent on motivation and GPA at follow-up. This preliminary study suggests that incorporating social support into academic motivation programs has the potential to benefit inflammatory markers in young people while allowing them to maintain positive academic outcomes.

Parental Support and Positive Mood Buffer Adolescents' Academic Motivation During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

School closures during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 severely disrupted adolescents' lives. We used a daily diary method for 20 days, including online and physical school days, assessing daily mood, social support and conflict, and academic motivation in 102 adolescents aged 12-16 years. We found that adolescents' academic motivation was lower on online compared with physical school days. In general, positive mood was positively associated with academic motivation, and friend conflict related negatively to academic motivation. Moreover, lower levels of parental support were related to lower academic motivation on online versus physical school days. Overall, these findings identified some critical changes in adolescents' daily experiences during the COVID-19 school closure and social-emotional factors that may buffer decreases in adolescents' academic motivation.

Academic motivation among senior students majoring in rehabilitation related professions in China.

OBJECTIVE/BACKGROUND: In mainland China, most universities offer general rehabilitation curricula rather than specialized curricula. The purpose of the current study is to investigate senior students' academic motivation for rehabilitation and examine whether it varies among different curriculum structures, students' gender, specific interests, and parental average education level. METHODS: This cross-sectional study recruited both senior students in general and those who specialized in rehabilitation curricula using an online survey. The Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) was used to measure academic motivation. RESULTS: The response rate was 74.68%, and 59 senior students in total (male: 34.48%; female: 65.52%) were analyzed. Twenty-nine (50.00%) students were from a general rehabilitation curriculum at Guangxi Medical University, and the rest (n = 29, 50.00%) were from a specialized curriculum at West China Medical School of Sichuan University. The overall average academic motivation score was 30.96 ± 5.92. Students in the specialized rehabilitation curriculum (32.85 ± 6.26) showed a significantly higher academic motivation score than those in the general rehabilitation curriculum (29.10 ± 5.00, p<0.05). Male (31.13 ± 5.67) and female (30.88 ± 6.12) students had equally high scores (p = 0.88). Students who had specific interests (29.81 ± 4.73) and those who did not (24.69 ± 4.92) shared the same academic motivation (t = 2.00, p = 0.06). CONCLUSIONS: Senior rehabilitation science students in specialized curricula have higher levels of academic motivation than those in general curricula. There was no significant difference in academic motivation scores based on students' gender, specific interests, or parental average education levels.

Youth Mentoring Relationships and College Social and Academic Functioning: The Role of Mentoring Relationship Quality, Duration, and Type.

The aim of the present study was to examine how college students' retrospective reports of youth-mentoring experiences were associated with current sense of belonging and community, academic motivation, and college self-efficacy, and to determine hows these outcomes vary as a function of mentoring relationship quality, duration, and type (e.g., natural versus program-sponsored). Analyses were conducted in Mplus 8.0 on a sample of 400 college students. Our findings suggest that most college students endorse a mentoring relationship. We found that having a mentor was associated with increased college self-efficacy. Among those with a youth mentor, relationship quality was positively associated with sense of belonging and college self-efficacy while duration of the mentoring relationship and relationship type were not associated with college-related outcomes. Further analyses were conducted to assess how the associations between relationship quality and the college-related outcomes varied as a function of mentoring duration and type. Relationship quality was uniquely associated with these college-related outcomes over and above student gender, race, and first-generation status. Our findings suggest it may be important to prioritize the enhancement of mentor relationship quality as a mechanism to affect change in academic-related outcomes.

Utility-value intervention with parents increases students' STEM preparation and career pursuit.

During high school, developing competence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is critically important as preparation to pursue STEM careers, yet students in the United States lag behind other countries, ranking 35th in mathematics and 27th in science achievement internationally. Given the importance of STEM careers as drivers of modern economies, this deficiency in preparation for STEM careers threatens the United States' continued economic progress. In the present study, we evaluated the long-term effects of a theory-based intervention designed to help parents convey the importance of mathematics and science courses to their high-school-aged children. A prior report on this intervention showed that it promoted STEM course-taking in high school; in the current follow-up study, we found that the intervention improved mathematics and science standardized test scores on a college preparatory examination (ACT) for adolescents by 12 percentile points. Greater high-school STEM preparation (STEM course-taking and ACT scores) was associated with increased STEM career pursuit (i.e., STEM career interest, the number of college STEM courses, and students' attitudes toward STEM) 5 y after the intervention. These results suggest that the intervention can affect STEM career pursuit indirectly by increasing high-school STEM preparation. This finding underscores the importance of targeting high-school STEM preparation to increase STEM career pursuit. Overall, these findings demonstrate that a motivational intervention with parents can have important effects on STEM preparation in high school, as well as downstream effects on STEM career pursuit 5 y later.