J Educ Eval Health Prof.  2018;15:2. 10.3352/jeehp.2018.15.2.

Contributions of psychological needs, self-compassion, leisure-time exercise, and achievement goals to academic engagement and exhaustion in Canadian medical students

• Babenko O
• Mosewich A
• Abraham J
• Lai H

• KMID: 2439258
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3352/jeehp.2018.15.2

Abstract

PURPOSE
To investigate the contributions of psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) and coping strategies (self-compassion, leisure-time exercise, and achievement goals) to engagement and exhaustion in Canadian medical students.
METHODS
This was an observational study. Two hundred undergraduate medical students participated in the study: 60.4% were female, 95.4% were 20-29 years old, and 23.0% were in year 1, 30.0% in year 2, 21.0% in year 3, and 26.0% in year 4. Students completed an online survey with measures of engagement and exhaustion from the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory-student version; autonomy, competence, and relatedness from the Basic Psychological Needs Scale; self-compassion from the Self-Compassion Scale-short form; leisure-time exercise from the Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire; and mastery approach, mastery avoidance, performance approach, and performance avoidance goals from the Achievement Goals Instrument. Descriptive and inferential analyses were performed.
RESULTS
The need for competence was the strongest predictor of student engagement (β= 0.35, P= 0.000) and exhaustion (β= −0.33, P= 0.000). Students who endorsed mastery approach goals (β= 0.21, P= 0.005) and who were more self-compassionate (β= 0.13, P= 0.050) reported greater engagement with their medical studies. Students who were less self-compassionate (β= −0.32, P= 0.000), who exercised less (β= −0.12, P= 0.044), and who endorsed mastery avoidance goals (β= 0.22, P= 0.003) reported greater exhaustion from their studies. Students' gender (β= 0.18, P= 0.005) and year in medical school (β= −0.18, P= 0.004) were related to engagement, but not to exhaustion.
CONCLUSION
Supporting students' need for competence and raising students' awareness of self-compassion, leisure-time exercise, and mastery approach goals may help protect students from burnout-related exhaustion and enhance their engagement with their medical school studies.

Keyword

Academic burnout; Self-determination theory; Coping

MeSH Terms

Female
Humans
Mental Competency
Observational Study
Schools, Medical
Students, Medical*

Reference

References

1. Ten Cate TJ, Kusurkar RA, Williams GC. How self-determination theory can assist our understanding of the teaching and learning processes in medical education: AMEE guide No. 59. Med Teach. 2011; 33:961–973. https://doi.org/10.3109/0142159X.2011.595435.

2. Reis D, Xanthopoulou D, Tsaousis I. Measuring job and academic burnout with the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI): factorial invariance across samples and countries. Burn Res. 2015; 2:8–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.burn.2014.11.001.

3. Ryan RM, Deci EL. Self-determination theory: basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. New York (NY): The Guilford Press;2017.

4. Neff KD. Self-compassion. In : Leary MR, Hoyle RH, editors. Handbook of individual differences in social behavior. New York (NY): The Guilford Press;2009.

5. Shephard R. Godin leisure-time exercise questionnaire. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1997; 29(suppl 6):S36–S38. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005768-199706001-00009.

6. Elliot AJ, McGregor HA. A 2 X 2 achievement goal framework. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2001; 80:501–519. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.80.3.501.

7. Decamps G, Boujut E, Brisset C. French college students’ sports practice and its relations with stress, coping strategies and academic success. Front Psychol. 2012; 3:104. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00104.

8. Elliot AJ, Hulleman CS. Achievement goals. In : Elliot AJ, Dweck CS, Yeager DS, editors. Handbook of competence and motivation: theory and application. New York (NY): The Guilford Press;2017. p. 43–60.

9. Brien M, Forest J, Mageau GA, Boudrias JS, Desrumaux P, Brunet L, Morin EM. The basic psychological needs at work scale: measurement invariance between Canada and France. Appl Psychol Health Well Being. 2012; 4:167–187. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-0854.2012.01067.x.

10. Raes F, Pommier E, Neff KD, Van Gucht D. Construction and factorial validation of a short form of the self-compassion scale. Clin Psychol Psychother. 2011; 18:250–255. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.702.

11. Baranik LE, Barron KE, Finney SJ. Measuring goal orientation in a work domain: construct validity evidence for the 2×2 framework. Educ Psychol Measur. 2007; 67:697–718. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164406292090.

12. Richardson DA, Jaber S, Chan S, Jesse MT, Kaur H, Sangha R. Self-compassion and empathy: impact on burnout and secondary traumatic stress in medical training. Open J Epidemiol. 2016; 6:161–167. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojepi.2016.63017.

13. Babenko O, Szafran O, Koppula S, Au L. Motivations for learning of family medicine residents trained in competency-based education. Educ Prim Care. 2017; Aug. 16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14739879.2017.1362666.