The effect of grit on students' work-engagement in surgery: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: Determination (grit) is a desirable personality trait in medical students for favorable academic performance. Commitment to work is a desired competence in undergraduate teaching -learning processes. The effect of the determination in the commitment to the work of the students is evaluated during their rotation. Methods: Students rated their determination on the Short Grit Scale (GSS) and their commitment to work on the Utrecht Work. Engagement Scale (UWES17-S). Through a mixed effects linear regression analysis, the relationships of the previous variables were established. Results: 327 students from ten medical schools were included. The GSS score was 2.96 +/- 0.58 (1-5) and the UWES-S17 score was 3.94 +/- 0.85 (range 2.4-7.0). In the fixed model, the effect of the determination on the students' commitment to work was not significant (b = 0.04; 95% CI: -0.11; 0.19, neither in the random model that explored the interaction by medical school (b = 0.02; 95% CI: 0.0044; - 0.15). The determination did not influence the commitment to the work of the students. Conclusions: No significant effect of determination was found on student work commitment during rotation in the general surgery course. Other aspects such as context and social interaction, should be explored.