The Motivational Factors of Choosing Diagnostic Radiology as a Profession Among Saudi Radiography Students

Walaa M Alsharif; Jaber H Alyami; Abdulaziz A Qurashi; Raghad A Aljuhani; Rawan K Alqrafi; Razan S Alraddadi; Elaf A Alhojeli; Shrooq T Aldahery; Khalid M Alshamrani; Sultan A Alshoabi; Awadia G Suliman

doi:10.2147/AMEP.S374194

The Motivational Factors of Choosing Diagnostic Radiology as a Profession Among Saudi Radiography Students

Adv Med Educ Pract. 2022 Aug 24:13:955-967. doi: 10.2147/AMEP.S374194. eCollection 2022.

Affiliations

¹ Diagnostic Radiology Technology Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia.
² Diagnostic Radiology department, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
³ Applied Radiologic Technology, College of Applied Medical Science, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Ministry of the National Guard - Health Affairs, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Purpose: To identify factors influencing Saudi students to choose radiography as their academic major and future career field.

Material and method: This study involved quantitative (online questionnaire) and qualitative (semi-structured interview) approaches. An online questionnaire was distributed among (n = 308) students. The questionnaire contained 30 questions covering the following three domains: economy, vocational and personal. A total of 25 individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with purposive sampling of radiography students in seven universities (public and private) across the western region of Saudi Arabia. Interview responses were coded, and main themes were extracted based on Miles and Huberman's framework.

Results: The findings demonstrated that radiography was the first option as profession for 44% of the study participants. Several factors that study participants considered important were in the realm of patient care, helping patients, radiographer-patient relations, science-based profession, and the desire to work in the healthcare system. A few participants (14%) reported that they are planning to change their profession to another medical speciality. Four themes were identified from the interviews: 1) Profession decision-making, 2) changing career", 3) difficulties and challenges, and 4) recommended radiography as a profession.

Conclusion: The results of the study support the need to bridge the gap between high school, universities, and employment through a collaborative network to assist students in exploring their career path by providing sufficient information and experience.

Keywords: career; education; motivation; profession; radiography.