Social cognitive career theory served as the basis for the instrument development for scales assessing self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and goals to predict medical career choice. Lent and Brown's conceptualization of social cognitive constructs guided the development of items to measure choice of medical specialty and practice location. Study 1 involved four stages: identification of attitudes and beliefs, generation of scale items, evaluation of scale items by experts, and a pilot study. The pilot study tested the item pool with 293 medical students and allowed item and exploratory factor analyses. Study 2 administered the scales to a second sample of 499 medical students. Confirmatory factor analysis assessed consistency and validity, and identified six psychometrically sound instruments. Initial validity for the scales was found encouraging, with further testing of these measures expected to support their use. Implications for use in research are discussed.
Arbuckle, J.L., & Wothke, W. (1995). AMOS 4.0 user's guide. Chicago : Small Waters Corporation.
2.
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
3.
Bandura, A. (1995). Guide for constructing self-efficacy scales: Retrieved September 6, 2005, from http://www.emory.edu/EDUCATION/mfp/bguide.html
4.
Betz, N.E., & Luzzo, D.A. (1996). Career assessment and the career decision-making self-efficacy scale. Journal of Career Assessment, 4, 413-428.
5.
Byrne, B.M. (2001). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
6.
Carmines, E.G., & McIver, J. (1981). Analyzing models with unobserved variables: Analysis of covariance structures. In G. Bohrnstedt & E. Borgatta (Eds.), Social measurement: Current issues (pp. 65-116). Beverley Hills, CA: Sage.
7.
Carmines, E.G., & Zeller, R.A. (1979). Reliability and validity assessment. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
8.
Chandarana, P.C., Loncke, M., & Conlon, P. (1989). Factors influencing medical students' intentions to choose psychiatry as a career. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry , 34, 425-429.
9.
Cook, D.A., Beckman, T.J., & Bordage, G. (2007). Quality of reporting of experimental studies in medical education: A systematic review. Medical Education , 41, 737-745.
10.
Cook, D.A., Bordage, G., & Schmidt, H.G. (2008). Description, justification and clarification: A framework for classifying the purposes of research in medical education . Medical Education, 42, 128-133.
11.
Davis, W., Bouhuijs, P.A.J., Dauphinee, W.D., McAvoy, P.A., Alexander, D.A., Coles, C., et al. (1990). Medical career choice: Current status of research literature. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 2, 130-138.
12.
Dohn, H. (1996). Choices in careers in medicine: Some theoretical and methodological issues. Medical Education, 30, 157-161.
13.
Gorenflo, D.W., Ruffin, M.T., & Sheets, K.J. (1994). A multivariate model for specialty preference by medical students. Journal of Family Practice, 39, 570-577.
14.
Guadagnoli, E., & Velicer, W.E. (1988). Relation of sample size to the stability of component patterns. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 265-275.
Henry, P., Leong, F.T., & Robinson, R. (1992). Choice of medical specialty: Analysis of students needs. Psychological Reports, 71, 215-224.
17.
Huebner, L.A., Royer, J.A., & Moore, J. (1981). The assessment and remediation of dysfunctional stress in medical school. Journal of Medical Education, 56, 547-558.
18.
Iserson, K.V. (2003). Iserson's getting into a residency: A guide for medical students (6th ed.). Tucson, AZ: Galen Press.
19.
Jöreskog, K.G., & Sörbom, D. (1989). LISREL 7: A guide to the programs and applications . Chicago: SPSS.
20.
Kline, P. (2000). The handbook of psychological testing (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
21.
Lawson, S.R., Hoban, J.D., & Mazmanian, P.E. (2004). Understanding primary care residency choices: A test of selected variables in the Bland-Meurer model . Academic Medicine, 79, S36-S38.
22.
Lent, R.W., Brenner, B., Chopra, S.B., Davis, T., Talleyrand, R., & Suthakaran, V. (2001). The role of contextual supports and barriers in the choice of math/science educational options: A test of social cognitive hypotheses. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 48, 474-483.
23.
Lent, R.W., & Brown, S.D. (2006). On conceptualizing and assessing social cognitive constructs in career research: A measurement guide. Journal of Career Assessment, 14, 12-35.
24.
Lent, R.W., Brown, S.D., Brenner, B., Lyons, H., & Treistman, D. (2003). Relation of contextual supports and barriers to choice behavior in engineering majors: Test of alternative social cognitive models. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 50, 458-465.
25.
Lent, R.W., Brown, S.D., & Hackett, G. (1996). Career development from a social cognitive perspective . In D. Brown, L. Brooks, & Associates (Eds.), Career choice and development: Applying contemporary theories to practice (3rd ed., pp. 373-421). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
26.
Leong, F.T.L., & Geisler-Brenstein, E. (1991). Assessment of career specialty interests in business and medicine. Career Plan and Adult Development Journal, 7, 37-44.
27.
Medsker, G.J., Williams, L.J., & Holahan, P.J. (1994). A review of current practices for evaluating causal models in organizational behavior and human resource management research. Journal of Management, 20, 439-464.
28.
Meurer, L.N., Bland, C.J., & Maldonado, G. (1996). The state of the literature on primary care specialty choice: Where do we go from here? Academic Medicine, 71, 68-77.
29.
Montano, D.E., Neighbor, W.E., Carline, J.D., Wright, C.L., & Phillips, I. (1988). A survey of fourth-year medical students' decision regarding family practice as a career. Journal of Medical Education, 63, 830-838.
30.
Mowbray, R.M. (1989). Research in choice of medical specialty: A review of the literature 1977-87. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Medicine, 19, 389-399.
31.
Reed, V.A., Jernstedt, C., & Reber, E.S. (2001). Understanding and improving medical student specialty choice: A synthesis of the literature using decision theory as a referent . Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 13, 117-129.
Williams, G.C., Saizow, R., Ross, L., & Deci, E.L. (1997). Motivation underlying career choice for internal medicine and surgery. Social Science and Medicine, 45, 1705-1713.
36.
Williams, G.C., Weiner, M.W., Markakis, K.M., Reeve, J., & Deci, E.L. (1994). Medical students' motivation for internal medicine . Journal of General Internal Medicine, 9, 327-333.
37.
Wolf, F.M. (2004). Methodological quality, evidence, and research in medical education (RIME). Academic Medicine, 79(suppl.10), S68-S69.
