Stundents Motivation and Orientation to Midwifery

Objective: The purpose of the research was to determine the motivation and orientation of midwifery students towards pro-fessional expertise and associated factors.Design: A cross-sectional study. Participants: A total of 241 undergraduate midwifery stu-dents in a convenience sample participated in this study at a Faculty of Health Care Studies.Methods: Data were collected through a questionnaire, which was composed of 3 parts: motivation factors, a Midwifery Ori-entation Tool, and background questions.Results: The most powerful motive for the study of midwifery was "to be useful to others, take care of others". The motiva-tion factor of completed professional practice decreased sta-tistically significantly after the second year of study (p<0.001). Orientation towards midwifery did not significantly differ sta-tistically over individual years. Students dissatisfied with their studies were significantly less motivated to study midwifery (p<0.001) and had significantly higher average scores on the caring orientation scale (p<0.001) and the midwifery expertise scale (p<0.001) when compared to satisfied and moderately satisfied students.Conclusion: We recommend that educators in midwifery dis-cuss issues relating to the curriculum. Teachers and mentors should pay attention to the individual problems of students during the academic year, both in the classroom and during clinical placements.