Investigation of the sense of self-determination in occupational therapy students:

Using personal attitude construct analysis

Abstract

This study aimed to clarify the significance of self-determination awareness for individual students of occupational therapy. First, the author asked 181 college students enrolled in occupational-therapy training courses to provide their levels of self-determination awareness. Then, of the 66 students who provided responses and completed the personal survey, 6 students-3 students each from the high- and low-level awareness groups-were selected, and an analysis of their personal attitude construct on self-determination awareness was conducted. The results demonstrate that students with high levels of self-determination awareness are the internal control type and have autonomous motivations, whereas students with low levels of self-determination awareness are the external control type and have external motivations, indicating that the psychological structures differ between the 2 types of students. These findings suggest that self-determination awareness is critical for the transition from external motivation to autonomous motivation.