Is There a Relationship Between Motivation And Nursing Student Engagement? A Quantitative, Cross-Sectional, Correlational Study

Nursing education is concerned with helping to alleviate the nursing shortage in the United States; this can be done by graduating safe competent novice nurses. Motivation and engagement levels in nursing students have been tied to better academic outcomes including graduation rates, transition to practice, and first time National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses pass rates. There was a gap in prelicensure nursing education research in the United States concerning the relationship among motivation, engagement, and possible influential variables. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between motivation and academic engagement among prelicensure nursing students in the United States. The following research questions guided this study: Q1 Is the relationship between motivation and academic engagement predictive, with motivation predicting academic engagement among prelicensure nursing students in the United States? Q2 What is the relationship between the factors of age, school type, program type, program setting, gender, race, and first-generation college student with motivation and engagement among prelicensure nursing students in the United States? Grounded in self-determination theory, this study examined if there was a predictive relationship between motivation and engagement in prelicensure nursing students in the United States and if any demographic variables affected that relationship. This quantitative cross-sectional correlational study asked prelicensure nursing students in the United States to complete a Qualtrics survey containing the Academic Motivation Scale, Student Course Engagement Questionnaire, and demographic factors to provide information on the relationship held among motivation, engagement, and demographic factors. Results of this study showed nursing students to be moderately motivated and engaged with motivation predicting engagement. Demographic factors had little to no effect on either motivation or engagement. Results were consistent with similar research utilizing nursing students from other countries. This was the first known study of its kind in the United States. Nursing educators could use this information to help frame student experiences in support of motivational factors to help students gain more self-determined behavior and completion of successful academic goals.