PURPOSE: This study was performed to investigate the differences in career choice motives and moral reasoning ability between students in baccalaureate and graduate-entry medical programs.
METHODS: Forty-five students from a baccalaureate program and thirty-eight students from a graduate-entry program participated in this study. The students were required to fill out both the Career Choice Motivation Inventory and Defining Issues Test(DIT). The Career Choice Motivation Inventory is a 20-item questionnaire, which investigates five dimensions: effect of others, job security, interest in science, service and working with people, and working condition. Independent t-test was performed to compare the two groups. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to investigate the relationship among variables.
RESULTS: There were significant differences in career choice motivations between the two groups. Students in the graduate-entry program were more likely to be motivated by scientific interest and opportunities to care for people.
Status and job security were stronger factors in the baccalaureate students. For the students in this program, there were positive associations among their motives- interest in medical science, serving people, and working condition. There was no significant difference in moral reasoning ability between the two groups.
CONCLUSION: Students in the graduate-entry medical program seem to have more professional and altruistic motivations for entering medicine. Although there is nostatistical significance, graduate students have numerically higher moral reasoning abilities compared to their counterparts.
These results validate that a graduate-entry program provides an important alternative for student selection.
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