Characteristics and determinants of the academic goals in nursing education: A cross-sectional study

Academic goals guide the learning mode of nursing students, focus their objectives and influence the acquisition of skills. However, research on academic goals and related variables is scarce.

To study the relationship between different sociodemographic and academic variables with the type of academic goal in nursing students at the Universitat Jaume I (Spain).

Cross-sectional study conducted between September 2020 and June 2021.

Undergraduate nursing students at Universitat Jaume I (n = 263).

The Academic Goal Orientation questionnaire was administered. In addition, the variables age, gender, route to university, previous health studies, previous training in critical thinking, degree year and average grade on academic record were collected. A descriptive analysis of the sample and an analysis of the association between variables were performed. In addition, exploratory multinomial logistic regression was performed.

The nursing students preferred the Learning Goal (95.8%; n = 263), and this increased among the students as their average grade increased. The results of the multivariate analysis indicated that students with a lower average grade, those from advanced years and those without previous training in critical thinking preferred the Work Avoidance and Self-defeating Ego Goals.

The preferred goal among the students was learning. The variables that influenced the type of goal were year, average grade and previous training in critical thinking.