Identifying Deterrents To Participation In Continuing Education

Abstract

In an attempt to contribute to theory-building in the area of participation, the present inquiry sought to explore the underlying structure of the many reasons adults give for not participating in continuing education (i.e., to identify "deterrent" factors analogous to "motivational orientation" factors) and to determine the utility of the deterrent factors in discriminating between participants and nonparticipants. A Deterrents to Participation scale was developed and administered to a large random sample of health professionals. A principal components factor analysis yielded six orthogonal factors labelled Disengagement, Lack of Quality, Family Constraints, Cost, Lack of Benefit, and Work Constraints. Multiple regression analysis indicated that the factors were potent predictors of participation. It was concluded that conceptually meaningful deterrent factors can be identified, that the construct of deterrent is multidimensional, and that the results provide empirical support for incorporating the deterrents construct in theories of participation.