Exploring factors that motivate nursing students to engage in skills practice in a laboratory setting: A descriptive qualitative design

Abstract

Objectives The aim of this study was to explore factors that motivate students to engage in skills practice in a laboratory setting, and to identify their motivation types and the regulatory styles. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 nursing students from three universities between November 2017 and January 2018. A thematic analysis was used to identify factors associated with students’ motivation to engage in skills practice in a laboratory. The types and the regulatory styles of student motivation were identified based on the self-determination theory. Results Seven motivating factors were identified. These factors included the students’ desire “to acquire the skills necessary to work as a nurse”, the “desire to improve skills in preparation for clinical practicum”, and their felt “obligations to patients as a nurse”. Moreover, “the impetus to study arising from the objective evaluation of oneself and others” and “wanting to pass the skills examination” motivated the students to engage in skills practice. A “learning environment that facilitates students’ learning” and the “supportive involvement of educators” facilitated their learning. Based on the self-determination theory, the students were found to embrace extrinsic motivation with four regulatory styles of motivation, namely integrated, identified, introjected, and external regulation. Conclusions Nurse educators should understand the motivating factors of students, and help students embrace a more internally controlled motivation by helping them envision their future careers as nurses, and by fostering their ethical duty to care for patients.