THE CHARACTERISTICS OF MEDICAL STUDENTS AND MOTIVATION TOWARDS CAREER CHOICE: IMPLICATIONS FOR CURRICULUM

The present study aimed to examine motivational factors that have impact on freshman students' choice of profession with regard to their demographic and socio-economic characteristics and gender in terms of curriculum development A semi-structured scale which was used in the study was developed by the researchers depending on previous studies about motivational factors affecting choice of profession. The scale was administrated to 298 freshman medical students in Akdeniz University in the academic year of 2012-2013. The study was designed as a mixed methods study and descriptive statistics and chi-square were used for data analyses. Demographic results of the study indicated that enrollment in medical faculty is similar for male and female students and a majority of students came from middle and high socioeconomic status. Statistically, motivational factors related to choice of profession show differences in four out of six subsections of the scale. While career opportunities, the nature of the profession, prestige, and social security were reported by male students, patient care and working with others were expressed by female students as motivators to become a doctor. The results of this study will be fruitful for educators in medical faculties, field specialists, researchers studying career development, curriculum development specialists, and educational politics.