Health Professions Students’ Lifelong Learning Orientation: Associations with Information Skills and Self Efficacy

Abstract

Objective – This study aimed to investigate the relationships among health professions students’ lifelong learning orientation, self-assessed information skills, and information self-efficacy. Methods – This was a descriptive study with a cross-sectional research design. Participants included 850 nursing students and 325 medical students. A total of 419 students responded to a survey questionnaire that was comprised of 3 parts: demographic information, the Jefferson Scale of Lifelong Learning (JeffSLL-HPS), and an information self-efficacy scale. Results – Findings of the study show a significant correlation between students’ lifelong learning orientation and information self-efficacy. Average JeffSLL-HPS total scores for undergraduate nursing students (M = 41.84) were significantly lower than the scores for graduate nursing students (M = 46.20). Average information self-efficacy total scores were significantly lower for undergraduate nursing students (M = 63.34) than the scores for graduate nursing students (M = 65.97). There were no significant differences among cohorts of medical students for JeffSLL-HPS total scores. However, for information self-efficacy, first year medical students (M = 55.62) and second year medical students (M = 58.00) had significantly lower scores than third/fourth year students (M = 64.42). Conclusion – Findings from the study suggest implications for librarians seeking ways to advance the value and utility of information literacy instruction in educational curricula. As such instruction has the potential to lead to high levels of information self-efficacy associated with lifelong learning; various strategies could be developed and incorporated into the instruction to cultivate students’ information self-efficacy.