Students' motivation to study dentistry in Malaysia: an analysis using confirmatory factor analysis.

Muhd Firdaus Che Musa,Eduardo Bernabé,Jennifer E Gallagher

doi:10.1186/s12960-015-0040-4

Muhd Firdaus Che Musa, Eduardo Bernabé + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-015-0040-4

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Abstract

IntroductionMalaysia has experienced a significant expansion of dental schools over the past decade. Research into students’ motivation may inform recruitment and retention of the future dental workforce. The objectives of this study were to explore students’ motivation to study dentistry and whether that motivation varied by students’ and school characteristics.MethodsAll 530 final-year students in 11 dental schools (6 public and 5 private) in Malaysia were invited to participate at the end of 2013. The self-administered questionnaire, developed at King’s College London, collected information on students’ motivation to study dentistry and demographic background. Responses on students’ motivation were collected using five-point ordinal scales. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to evaluate the underlying structure of students’ motivation to study dentistry. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to compare factor scores for overall motivation and sub-domains by students’ and school characteristics.ResultsThree hundred and fifty-six final-year students in eight schools (all public and two private) participated in the survey, representing an 83% response rate for these schools and 67% of all final-year students nationally. The majority of participants were 24 years old (47%), female (70%), Malay (56%) and from middle-income families (41%) and public schools (78%). CFA supported a model with five first-order factors (professional job, healthcare and people, academic, careers advising and family and friends) which were linked to a single second-order factor representing overall students’ motivation. Academic factors and healthcare and people had the highest standardized factor loadings (0.90 and 0.71, respectively), suggesting they were the main motivation to study dentistry. MANOVA showed that students from private schools had higher scores for healthcare and people than those in public schools whereas Malay students had lower scores for family and friends than those from minority ethnic groups. No differences were found by age, sex, family income and school type.ConclusionUsing CFA, this study shows that academic factors were the main motivation to study dentistry in this group of Malaysian students. There were also variations in students’ motivation by students’ ethnicity and school sector but not by other factors.

Highlights

Malaysia has experienced a significant expansion of dental schools over the past decade
One questionnaire survey of individual schools in 13 countries covering 6 continents claimed that having enough time for the family and altruism were the main motivation to study dentistry; the firstchoice influence varied between countries [2]
Another study across Western and Eastern countries found that most dental students from both regions shared similar concerns for personal, altruism and academic interest and suggested that differences may relate to their future career options [20]

Summary

Introduction

Malaysia has experienced a significant expansion of dental schools over the past decade. Research into students’ motivation may inform recruitment and retention of the future dental workforce. Research into students’ motivation and career expectations may assist dental educators and health providers to develop better models to recruit and retain the workforce for the benefit of both the community and profession [2,3]. Gallagher et al [10] developed an instrument, informed by qualitative research, assessing five domains underlying motivation to study dentistry (professional job, healthcare and people, academic, careers advising and family and friends). Another study across Western and Eastern countries found that most dental students from both regions shared similar concerns for personal, altruism and academic interest and suggested that differences may relate to their future career options [20]. There is little evidence on whether students in developing countries have the same motivation to study dentistry

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