Hochmotiviert am Start: Zur Studienmotivation von Medizinstudenten während des ersten Studienjahres

Objectives: Study motivation is a central requirement for academic learning. Whether the initially existing motivation increases, decreases or remains unchanged is not only a matter of individual traits, but is also influenced by experiences in class. Since evaluation of the preclinical years in medical education is often critical, study motivation might also decline during this period. Thus the aim of our study was to track the development of medical students’ study motivation during the first year of their medical education and to identify factors responsible for a possible change in motivation.

Methods: A longitudinal study was conducted with first year students in medicine. Over the period of one year at three different measuring times questionnaires were given to students. 164 data records were collected and used for analysis.

Results: The initially very high study motivation decreased significantly during the first semester and remained unchanged for the majority of the students at the end of the second semester. However, a small group of students felt strongly demotivated at the end of that period. These students were less content with their studies, found topics less interesting and judged teachers less supporting than their peers, who rated their studies more positively overall.

Conclusion: The notion that the preclinical years are negatively rated in general and that they are a rather demotivating affair could only partially be supported in our study. How students experience studying is obviously different from what other studies suggest where rating is conducted from an occupational point of view and quality of content matters more.