The effects of initial participation motivations on learning engagement in transition training for future general practitioners in rural China: perceived deterrents as mediator

BACKGROUND: For the shortage of high-quality general practitioners (GPs) in China's rural areas, Chinese government has taken steps to encourage rural specialists to participate in transition training for future GPs. Specialists’ initial participation motivations and their perceived deterrents during training may play important roles for their learning engagement in the transition training. This study aimed at revealing the relationships among the variables of initial participation motivations, perceived deterrents in training, and learning engagement. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was used in this study. A total of 156 rural specialists who participated in transition training for future GPs filled out the questionnaire, which consisted of the measurements of initial participation motivations, perceived deterrents, and learning engagement in training. The data about specialists’ demographic variables were collected at the same time. RESULTS: The variance of initial escape/stimulations motivation significantly predicted the variance of learning engagement through the full mediating role of perceived deterrents in training. In addition, initial educational preparation motivations predicted the variance of learning engagement directly. CONCLUSIONS: Specialists’ initial participation motivations and perceived deterrents in training played important roles for learning engagement in the transition training.