Learning from complex elderly care: a qualitative study on motivating residents in family medicine

BACKGROUND: More and more patients need complex care, especially the elderly. For various reasons, this is becoming increasingly difficult. The onus is essentially on family physicians to provide this care and family medicine residency programs should therefore prepare their residents for this task. We know from self-determination theory (SDT) that motivation plays a key role in learning and that in order to boost motivation, fulfillment of 3 basic psychological needs - for autonomy, competence, and relatedness – is crucial. As residents often lack motivation, residency programs face the important challenge to motivate them to learn about and engage in complex elderly care. How to do so, however, is not yet sufficiently understood. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative multi-institutional case study across four universities in Belgium and the Netherlands. In the period between June, 2015, and May, 2019, we triangulated information from semi-structured interviews, document analysis, and observations of educational moments. Guided by SDT concepts, the analysis was performed iteratively by a multidisciplinary team, using ATLAS.ti, version 8. In this process, we gained more insights into residents’ motivation to learn complex elderly care. RESULTS: We scrutinized 1,369 document pages and 4 films, observed 34 educational moments, and held 41 semi-structured interviews. Although we found all the 3 basic psychological needs postulated by SDT, each seemed to have its own challenges. First, a tension between the need to guide residents and to encourage their independent learning complicated fulfillment of the need for autonomy. Second, the unpredictability of complex care led to reduced feelings of competence. Yet, guidelines and models could help residents to capture and apprehend its complexity. And third, family medicine practice, patients, and educational practice, by either satisfying or thwarting the need for relatedness, were identified as key mediators of motivation. By setting the right example and encouraging residents to discuss authentic dilemmas and switch their health care approach from cure to care, educators can boost their motivation. CONCLUSION: Our study has demonstrated that the degree of perceived autonomy, guidance by the education program, use of authentic dilemmas, as well as involvement of group facilitators can aid the process of motivation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NVMO, ERB number 482. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12875-022-01908-3.