The mediating role of motivated strategies in the relationship between formative classroom assessment and academic well-being in medical students: a path analysis

BACKGROUND: The support of students' academic well-being is one of the main agendas of medical education. For medical students, well-being can help prevent burnout and provides students with grounds for their future healthcare setting. The aim of this study was to examine the mediating role of motivated strategies for learning in the relationship between formative assessment and academic well-being. METHOD: The present cross-sectional study was performed on 391 undergraduate students of medical sciences selected by a convenient sampling method. The measuring instruments used in this study included motivated strategies for learning questionnaire (Pintrich and De Groot), classroom assessment approaches questionnaire (Yousefi Afrashteh et al.) and Academic well-being Questionnaire (Pietarinen et al.). In order to analyze the data, SPSS-26 software was used for descriptive statistics and correlation matrix, and LISREL-10.20 software was used to do path analysis and determine the relationships between variables within the model. RESULTS: Findings showed that formative assessment is a significant resource in shaping subscale of motivated strategies for learning (self-efficacy, intrinsic value, test anxiety, cognitive strategies and self-regulation). Moreover, the results demonstrated that the self-regulated learning strategies is a crucial determinant of academic well-being and is a mediator between formative assessment and academic well-being. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest the important value and necessity of formative assessment in medical science classes which can indirectly lead to improve students’ academic well-being.