Motivation and learning styles in neonatal trainees

Understanding the predominant learning styles of trainees may help trainers to improve the learning environment, and awareness of the trainees’ type of motivation may help to facilitate career support. This study aimed to assess motivation and learning styles of a group of neonatal trainees. Between February 2001 to August 2002, in the last month of their post, each trainee was asked to complete a motivation assessment and a learning style q u e s t i o n n a i r e . F o r t y - f o u r t r a i n e e s c o m p l e t e d t h e ques t ionnai r es . There was no s igni f i cant di f ference between the Specialist Registrars (SpRs) and Senior House Of f i cer s (SHOs ) wi th respec t to thei r total int r ins i c motivation, total extrinsic motivation, amotivation and learning style domain scores. Both groups exhibited a p r e d omi n a n t re f l e c t i v e l e a r n i n g s t y l e . S HO n o n - U K graduates had a significantly higher score for intrinsic motivation and were significantly more likely to exhibit a reflective learning style, compared to UK graduates. Generally trainees scored low on the amotivation scale. In conclusion, the majority of neonatal trainees are highly motivated. The increased propensity to trainees becoming more reflective practitioners possibly suggests an impact o f t h e e v i d e n c e b a s e d me d i c i n e c u l t u r e a n d mo re enlightened postgraduate education.