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.
Highlights
Self-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
Research on the self-efficacy beliefs of medical students is of great interest in medical education, no attempts have been made to systematically review the research and to examine the validity of the measurement tools used in the research
The quantity of self-efficacy research in medical education has increased steadily over the last decades but questions remain about the quality of some of the research
Summary
Self-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. 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. We sought to describe the state of research on medical student self-efficacy and to critically examine the conceptualization and measurement of the construct. Research on the self-efficacy beliefs of medical students is of great interest in medical education, no attempts have been made to systematically review the research and to examine the validity of the measurement tools used in the research. The findings from this review suggest that research on medical student self-efficacy is growing rapidly and is becoming increasingly international, but that much research is not aligned with the conceptual underpinnings of the construct, reducing the validity of its measurement. Skills and knowledge provide the raw materials for student success in medical education, beliefs about personal capabilities to use these raw materials can spell the difference between success and failure
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