PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate factors influencing career preparation behavior among male nursing students in South Korea. METHODS: Data were collected from May 25 to June 17, 2018 and a total of 158 male nursing students participated in this study. Career decision making self-efficacy, military duty planning, and career preparation behavior were measured using a structured questionnaire. Collected data were analyzed with SPSS 25.0 for windows. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference in career preparation behavior of participants according to entrance motivation and desired career after graduation. There were statistically significant correlations between career decision making self-efficacy and career preparation behavior (r=.65, p < .001), and between military duty planning and career preparation behavior (r=.45, p < .001). The influential factors for career preparation behavior were career decision making self-efficacy (β=.64, p < .001), and military duty planning (β=.42, p < .001). These factors accounted for 42% of the variance in career preparation behavior. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that to improve career preparation behavior for male nursing students, it is necessary to enhance career decision making self-efficacy and military duty planning.
Career Choice ; Decision Making ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Military Personnel ; Motivation ; Nursing ; Students, Nursing

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study is to understand the experiences of career exploration among nursing students during their clinical practice and to develop a theoretical framework for the career exploration process. METHODS: From February 2 to 28, 2015, data were collected through focus group interviews from 24 participating fourth-year nursing students. The data were analyzed using grounded theory. RESULTS: The central phenomenon of 'confusion between the ideal and the reality of nursing' occurred in contexts for various reasons of choosing one's major, nurses in the ideal, a vague fear of the field, arduous nursing assignments in the field, and severe adversity in the nursing field. Nursing students tried to deal with their confusion by using interaction strategies such as pursuing the intrinsic value of nursing, finding role models, trying to project oneself, and preparing for adapting to reality. The career exploration process in clinical practice was a voyage to discover the authentic nurse of the pre-registration nurse. CONCLUSION: This result shows that nursing students were to gain confidence in their career choices by finding the value of nursing and interacting with patients. Therefore, opportunities for learning experiences about interaction with patients and various positive experiences in clinical practice should be provided for nursing students.
Career Choice ; Focus Groups ; Grounded Theory ; Humans ; Learning ; Nursing ; Nursing, Practical ; Qualitative Research ; Students, Nursing

PURPOSE: Students joining medical studies may be motivated by many factors. However, there may also be some factors which may concern them. Although, it can be assumed that those joining medical studies would have largely been influenced positively, how the factors interact in different groups of students has not been studied adequately. METHODS: We conducted a questionnaire-based survey in first-year medical students. Besides the demographics and intentions about their future career plans, students rated a list of positively influencing items and a list of negatively affecting items relevant to our context that influenced their decision. We performed factor analysis followed by clustering of study participants. RESULTS: Ninety-seven students participated in the survey which comprised of 59% females with mean age of 18.6 years. The factors extracted were named as 'personal growth factor,' 'professional calling factor,' 'personal concerns factor,' and 'professional concerns factor.' Four distinct clusters of participants differing in their average ratings to each of the above factors were identified. CONCLUSION: This study provides information on the factors that influence students to join medical studies from an Indian context. The motivational patterns were varied in different sub-groups of students. The data obtained from this study may provide pointers to educators to plan training of students, changes in curricular structure that takes into account the expansion of medical education into specialties and beyond.
Career Choice ; Demography ; Education, Medical ; Female ; Humans ; India ; Intention ; Motivation ; Students, Medical

Behavioral analysis in mice provided important contributions in helping understand and treat numerous neurobehavioral and neuropsychiatric disorders. The behavioral performance of animals and humans is widely different among individuals but the neurobehavioral mechanism of the innate difference is seldom investigated. Many neurologic conditions share comorbid symptoms that may have common pathophysiology and therapeutic strategy. The forced swim test (FST) has been commonly used to evaluate the “antidepressant” properties of drugs yet the individual difference analysis of this test was left scantly investigated along with the possible connection among other behavioral domains. This study conducted an FST-screening in outbred CD-1 male mice and segregated them into three groups: high performers (HP) or the active swimmers, middle performers (MP), and low performers (LP) or floaters. After which, a series of behavioral experiments were performed to measure their behavioral responses in the open field, elevated plus maze, Y maze, three-chamber social assay, novel object recognition, delay discounting task, and cliff avoidance reaction. The behavioral tests battery revealed that the three groups displayed seemingly correlated differences in locomotor activity and novel object recognition but not in other behaviors. This study suggests that the HP group in FST has higher locomotor activity and novelty-seeking tendencies compared to the other groups. These results may have important implications in creating behavior database in animal models that could be used for predicting interconnections of various behavioral domains, which eventually helps to understand the neurobiological mechanism controlling the behaviors in individual subjects.
Animals ; Behavior Rating Scale ; Delay Discounting ; Humans ; Individuality ; Male ; Mice ; Models, Animal ; Motor Activity

BACKGROUND: The role of family medicine specializing in primary care is important. This study examined medical students' perception of family medicine and their career choice, and provides policy and educational implications for family medicine.METHODS: The study used data collected from the 111 medical students from Keimyung University. The questionnaire comprised items pertaining to respondents' demographic information, career plan, and perceptions about family medicine.RESULTS: The most common mode of learning about family medicine was class or clinical practice (68.5%). Further, 73 students (65.8%) reported an intention to select family medicine as their major. These students were most likely to be employed (34 persons). Among the 111 students, 3 (2.8%) choose family medicine as their preferred major. Before receiving clinical practice experience, the most common reason for not choosing family medicine was “does not fit into the reality in Korea” (32.1%). After clinical practice, “lack of professionalism” (44.6%) was the most commonly cited reason.CONCLUSION: Medical students' perception about family medicine was strongly influenced by their experiences during class and clinical practice. Students also reported the need to improve professionalism in family medicine. Building public relations could help improve medical students' awareness about family medicine, and it is also necessary to improve social awareness of family medicine through the support of government such as th family doctor system.
Career Choice ; Humans ; Intention ; Learning ; Primary Health Care ; Professionalism ; Public Relations ; Students, Medical ; Surveys and Questionnaires

An important and unresolved question is how human brain regions process information and interact with each other in intertemporal choice related to gains and losses. Using psychophysiological interaction and dynamic causal modeling analyses, we investigated the functional interactions between regions involved in the decision-making process while participants performed temporal discounting tasks in both the gains and losses domains. We found two distinct intrinsic valuation systems underlying temporal discounting in the gains and losses domains: gains were specifically evaluated in the medial regions, including the medial prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortices, and losses were evaluated in the lateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In addition, immediate reward or punishment was found to modulate the functional interactions between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and distinct regions in both the gains and losses domains: in the gains domain, the mesolimbic regions; in the losses domain, the medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and insula. These findings suggest that intertemporal choice of gains and losses might involve distinct valuation systems, and more importantly, separate neural interactions may implement the intertemporal choices of gains and losses. These findings may provide a new biological perspective for understanding the neural mechanisms underlying intertemporal choice of gains and losses.
Adult ; Brain ; diagnostic imaging ; physiology ; Brain Mapping ; Delay Discounting ; physiology ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Neural Pathways ; diagnostic imaging ; physiology ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Psychophysics ; Reward ; Young Adult

Behavioral adjustment plays an important role in the treatment and relapse of drug addiction. Nonetheless, few studies have examined behavioral adjustment and its plasticity following error commission in methamphetamine (METH) dependence, which is detrimental to human health. Thus, we investigated the behavioral adjustment performance following error commission in long-term METH addicts and how it varied with the application of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Twenty-nine male long-term METH addicts (for > 3 years) were randomly assigned to high-frequency (10 Hz, n = 15) or sham (n = 14) rTMS of the left DLPFC during a two-choice oddball task. Twenty-six age-matched, healthy male adults participated in the two-choice oddball task pretest to establish normal performance for comparison. The results showed that 10 Hz rTMS over the left DLPFC significantly decreased the post-error slowing effect in response times of METH addicts. In addition, the 10 Hz rTMS intervention remarkably reduced the reaction times during post-error trials but not post-correct trials. While the 10 Hz rTMS group showed a more pronounced post-error slowing effect than the healthy participants during the pretest, the post-error slowing effect in the posttest of this sample was similar to that in the healthy participants. These results suggest that high-frequency rTMS over the left DLPFC is a useful protocol for the improvement of behavioral adjustment after error commission in long-term METH addicts.
Adjustment Disorders ; etiology ; therapy ; Adult ; Amphetamine-Related Disorders ; complications ; therapy ; Case-Control Studies ; Central Nervous System Stimulants ; adverse effects ; Choice Behavior ; physiology ; Functional Laterality ; Humans ; Male ; Methamphetamine ; adverse effects ; Middle Aged ; Prefrontal Cortex ; physiology ; Reaction Time ; physiology ; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ; methods ; Young Adult

INTRODUCTION: Medical school fees are rising globally. Student debt and financial background may affect residency choices, but few studies have been conducted in Asia. This study aimed to explore the relationship between financial background, student debt and postgraduate residency choices among medical students in Singapore. METHODS: An anonymised survey of all medical students in Singapore was conducted and had a response rate of 67.9%. RESULTS: 40.5% of our study population would graduate with debt. Medical students with monthly per capita household income < SGD 1,000 were more likely to graduate with debt (unadjusted odds ratio [OR] 2.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.6-2.7; p < 0.001) and feel burdened by the cost of medical education (unadjusted OR 2.8, 95% CI 2.0-3.9; p < 0.001). Students with monthly per capita household income < SGD 1,000 (unadjusted OR 1.818, 95% CI 1.338-2.470, p < 0.001; adjusted OR 1.692, 95% CI 1.202-2.381, p = 0.003) and those with debt (unadjusted OR 1.623, 95% CI 1.261-2.090, p < 0.001; adjusted OR 1.393, 95% CI 1.048-1.851, p = 0.022) were more likely to rank at least one economic factor as 'very significant' in influencing their postgraduate training choices. CONCLUSION It is concerning that despite financial aid schemes, the cost of medical education remains a burden to students from lower-income households in Singapore. Student debt and financial background may distort postgraduate career choices, creating an undue push towards high-paying specialties.
Career Choice ; Choice Behavior ; Education, Medical ; economics ; Humans ; Internship and Residency ; economics ; Odds Ratio ; Schools, Medical ; economics ; Singapore ; Social Class ; Students, Medical ; statistics & numerical data ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Training Support

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with new graduate nurses' choices of local hospitals. METHODS: Participants were 526 new graduate nurses from one of five universities located in Busan, Ulsan or Gyeongnam. The new graduates completed a self-report questionnaire survey during February and March, 2016. The questionnaire included questions about choices of local hospitals, satisfaction with nursing major, nursing professionalism and anticipated nursing practice environment. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify factors associated with the new graduate nurses' choices of local hospitals. RESULTS: Of the participants, 86.3% had their first jobs in their nursing school region (local hospitals). The choice of local hospitals among new graduate nurses was related to region of origin, type of nursing school, grade point average, and anticipated nursing practice environment. CONCLUSION: Local hospitals need to enhance the nurse practice environment and provide institutional benefits to new graduate nurses who choose local hospitals. For quality nursing care, reducing the geographical gap and improving policy is necessary.
Busan ; Career Choice ; Logistic Models ; Nursing ; Nursing Care ; Professionalism ; Schools, Nursing ; Ulsan

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to implement a systematic career coaching program for medical students and to evaluate its effectiveness. METHODS: First-year medical students of Konyang University College of Medicine took part in the FLEX Mentoring II: Career Coaching Program from September to December in 2016 and 2017. This program included 16 weekly sessions, comprising a total of 32 hours. The students took the Career Readiness Inventory before and after the program, as a pre- and post-test of the program. Data from 100 students were used (46 students in 2016, 54 students in 2017) for the evaluation. RESULTS: Medical students' career readiness pre-test was rated as medium. In particular, many students were at a low level in terms of ‘support from colleagues and peers’ (53.0%), ‘career decision’ (48.0%), and ‘efforts for job preparation’ (60.0%). After 16 sessions of a systematic career coaching program, their career readiness level showed a significant increase except for ‘career decision’ (t=4.242, P=0.001) and ‘independence’ (t=0.731, P=0.466), a sub-factor of ‘career maturity.’ CONCLUSION: The career readiness level of medical students was not sufficiently high. However, a semester of educational training in a systematic career coaching program helped the students to be better prepared for their career. In particular, the significant reduction in the ‘career decision’ variable after the program can be interpreted as indicating that the students changed their behavior to explore and approach their career more seriously and carefully, which also underscores the need for the implementation of career coaching programs in medical schools.
Career Choice ; Education, Medical ; Humans ; Korea ; Mentors ; Schools, Medical ; Students, Medical