title: Achievement motivation level in students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences and its influential factors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many studies have investigated the relationship between motivation and educational outcomes. The present study was conducted to determine whether the students' motivation in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS) decreases during educational years.
  
  
  METHODS
  770 students in SUMS were selected by multi-stage stratified random sampling from each field and entrance year. The first questionnaire contained 57 questions on the effect of economic, social, educational, geographical and personality factors on the students' motivation. The second one was based on 50 incomplete sentences. The validity and reliability of these questionnaires were approved by the experts and Cronbach's Alpha coefficients (85% and 90%, respectively). In this cross-sectional study, ANOVA, t-test and Chi-square tests were applied for data analysis at the 0.05 significance level.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Six factors with the most effect on academic motivation were "family attitudes", "getting good jobs in future", "respect for themselves", " the ability to learn", "believing their role in victory and defeat" and "the tendency toward optimism about themselves". In addition, comparing professional doctorate and basic sciences' results revealed no significant relationship between academic motivation and educational years (F=0.819, p=0.397). But comparing field by field showed that Dentistry and Hospital Management and Medical Information (HMMI) had a significant decrease in motivation score by increase in educational years (F=3.991, p=0.015).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Achievement motivation level in SUMS students was higher than average and did not decrease during educational years. Also, the results showed that personal, social and educational related factors affected motivation level more than economic and environmental factors.
authors.affiliation: School of Rehabilitation, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran;
authors.forename: Somayeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kavousipour
authors.affiliation: Histomorphometry & Stereology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran;
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Noorafshan
authors.affiliation: Biostatistics Department, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran;
authors.forename: Saeedeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pourahmad
authors.affiliation: Depatment of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology, Biomaterial Research Center, School of Dentistry, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran;
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dehghani-Nazhvani
keywords: Academic; Education; Effective; Motivation; Students