A Survey of the Motivation of Nursing Students toward Their Field of Study Selection

Active learning, based on individual needs requires a high level of motivation or interest in trying which is in line with the purposes of education. The role of motivation in learning is so high that seems to matter more than IQ, but not all the students are motivated with one thing. Motivation is a performance with individual differences that sometimes is created in coercion and pressure conditions. This research has been done in this regard. This research is a descriptive - analytic study of 200 nursing students. Data was collected using a questionnaire with a total of 27 questions that included 15 demographic questions and 12 questions about the intrinsic and extrinsic motivating factors. Of these, 147 questionnaires were returned to the researcher and the results were analyzed using SPSS 11. Results showed that 53.1% (78 persons) of the students were female and 46.9% (69 persons) were male. 13.6% (20persons) were married, 39.5% (58persons) were native and 3.4% (5 persons) were employed. 12.5% (18persons) were from acceptance zone 1, 56.5% (83 persons) from Zone 2 and 31% (46 persons) were from Zone 3. A survey of intrinsic and extrinsic motivating factors effective in choosing the nursing field showed that the most interesting factors were health-related activities (3.90±0.75)and independent work place was the least interesting (2.52±1.06). The results also showed that students entering this filed had more intrinsic motivation. Married students’ motivation was significantly more than the single (p <0.05). Also, students whose parents had postgraduate degrees were significantly more motivated than other students (p <0.05). students’ intrinsic motivation had a better condition than their extrinsic motivation So given the impact of extrinsic motivation in learning, additional measures should be added to the apparent qualities of this field to strengthen the extrinsic motivating factors in choosing this course.