The impact of goal setting and goal orientation on performance during a clerkship surgical skills training program

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to integrate relevant goal-setting theory and to identify if trainees' goal orientations have an impact on the assigned goals-performance relationship. METHODS: Trainees attended 1 of the 3 goal-training activities (do your best, performance, or learning goals) for knot tying (KT) and camera navigation (CN) during the 3rd-year clerkship rotation. Questionnaires and pretests and/or post-tests were completed. RESULTS: One twenty-seven 3rd-year medical students (age: 25 +/- 2.6; 54% women) participated in the training program. Pretraining to post-training performance changes were significant for all groups on both tasks (P < .01), but the increase was significantly greater (P < .01) for the learning goals group (do your best: KT Delta = 2.14, CN Delta = 1.69; performance: KT Delta = 2.49, CN Delta = 2.24; learning: KT Delta = 3.04 CN Delta = 2.76). Correlations between goal orientations and improvement were examined, revealing a unique role of goal orientation for performance improvement. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that consideration of goal type and trainee goal orientation must be considered during curriculum development to maximize educational value. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.