Does Motivation and Test Anxiety Affect Success in a Physical Therapy Clinical Anatomy Course?

INTRODUCTION. Gauging the motivation of newly admitted Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students, during their first foundational science course, Clinical Anatomy, may improve our understanding of academic success rates. Academic success has been shown to be impacted by motivation behaviors, self-regulated learning, and metacognition. The purpose of this study was to investigate how DPT student motivation behaviors and test anxiety impact academic success. METHODS. 32 DPT students (15 M/17 F) participated in the study. The survey consisted of six motivation behaviors and test anxiety which are included in the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (7-point Likert scale). The motivation behaviors were compared with course grade using Pearson r correlation[strong/moderate/weak]. Independent t-tests[p<.05] were used to assess the relationship between gender and course grade. SUMMARY. Only one of the six motivation behaviors, self-efficacy for learning and performance, was strongly correlated with academic success [r(31)=.44], where higher selfefficacy for learning and performance scores were associated with a higher course grade. Course grade had a weak correlation with all other motivation behaviors and test anxiety. No gender differences were found for the six motivation behaviors and test anxiety. CONCLUSIONS. The results of this study suggest that self-efficacy for learning and performance is an important factor in DPT students’ success in Clinical Anatomy. The need for Faculty to address self-efficacy for learning and performance could promote student success. Implementing strategies aimed to improve students’ self-efficacy, such as providing timely feedback, delineating clear expectations, and incremental goal setting, may enhance academic success.