Learning engagement is an important factor to improve the quality of medical education. Exploring the level of medical students\' learning engagement and its internal mechanism is of practical significance to improve their academic achievement. The aims of this study were to investigate the relationship between achievement goal orientation, growth mindset and learning engagement of medical students, and explore the mediating effect of achievement goal orientation on growth mindset and learning engagement. A correlational cross-sectional study was performed using an online questionnaire. The study was conducted from February to March 2024 among 279 medical college students. General information questionnaire, the Mindsets Scale, Achievement Goal Orientation Scale and Learning Engagement Scale were used for investigation. Calculations were performed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences 27.0 and Mplus 7.0. Descriptive statistics, correlation, and mediation effect analyses were used to analyze the data. A total of 279 valid questionnaires were finally recovered. The learning engagement score of medical students was (56.17 ± 13.01), growth mindset score was (11.26 ± 3.37). The approach goal orientation played a partial mediating role between growth mindset and learning engagement in medical college students. Growth mindset can influence learning engagement through achievement goal orientation. Medical college educators should pay attention to the cultivation of students\' growth mindset and enhance their learning engagement. The verification of the mediating effect of approach goal provides data support for formulating relevant intervention measures.

UNASSIGNED: This study aimed to clarify nursing students\' self-assessed levels of nursing skills at a nursing university at graduation and discuss how education and clinical experiences for students and post-licensure nurses should be improved, especially focusing on oncology nursing.
UNASSIGNED: The study population comprised fourth-year students from 2017 to 2019 at the Faculty of Health Science and Nursing, Juntendo University, who had completed all stipulated clinical placements. The Japanese government determined 141 nursing skills and their target levels. Students subjectively evaluated their achieved levels for the 141 nursing skills after the final clinical placement.
UNASSIGNED: Of the 141 nursing skills, 81 (57%) were rated as \"skills with easy-to-achieve targets\" and five were rated as \"skills with difficult-to-achieve targets.\" All nursing skills in the two subcategories of environmental adjustment skills and comfort management skills were rated as \"skills with easy-to-achieve targets.\" Nursing skills with low target achievement rates were for patients with oral intake difficulties, unstable respiratory status, and those requiring glycemic control. These skills are also important in oncology nursing.
UNASSIGNED: It cannot be concluded that the nursing university students fully achieved the target levels of nursing skills, as determined by the Japanese government. These findings may facilitate discussions on teaching nursing skills and their target levels at the time of graduation from nursing universities or post-employment.

BACKGROUND: The learning and study strategies of entry-level physical therapist (PT) students may not be as effective as those needed for success in an entry-level PT education program. The Learning and Study Strategies Inventory, third edition (LASSI) is a reliable tool to assess learning and study strategies. The purpose of this study was to assess the learning and study strategies of first-year PT students and if the strategies change over the first year.
METHODS: There is little research on using the LASSI with PT students; however, the LASSI has been used with other health care professional students.
METHODS: The participants (n = 211) were from 5 cohorts of PT students in their first year of an entry-level PT education program.
METHODS: In the first week of the curriculum the students took the LASSI in class. The results were released individually to each student. No intervention was provided. At the end of the first year, the students retook the LASSI. Paired samples t-tests were run to determine whether the 10 subtest mean percentile scores changed significantly from baseline to follow-up and how they compared to established LASSI benchmarks.
RESULTS: Six subtest scores, Anxiety, Attitude, Concentration, Information Processing, Selecting Main Ideas, and Test Strategies, showed significant changes (P ≤ .005) from baseline to follow-up. However, all subtest averages fell below the 75th percentile mark, which is reported as the threshold requiring reflection to improve skills for learning and study strategies.
CONCLUSIONS: Students, on average, may not have adequate learning and study strategies when they start an entry-level PT education program. The LASSI may be an effective tool to focus resources in a timely and proactive manner for those students who may need them. Determining the resources needed earlier may decrease the need for later remediation, attrition, or licensure examination failures.

OBJECTIVE: Every year, many applicants want to study medicine. Appropriate selection procedures are needed to identify suitable candidates for the demanding curriculum. Although research on medical school admissions has shown good predictive validity for cognitive selection methods (undergraduate GPA, aptitude tests), the literature on applicants with professional and/or academic experience prior to entering medical school remains slim. In our study, we therefore aimed to examine the association between academic success in medical school and having previously completed vocational training in the medical field, voluntary service (≥11 months) or an academic degree.
METHODS: Data were collected in a multicentre, cross-sectional study at five medical schools in Germany (Baden-Wuerttemberg) from students during medical school (i.e. 3rd-, 6th-, and 10th-semester and final-year students). Academic success was assessed according to scores on the first and second state examinations, the total number of examinations repeated and the number of semesters beyond the standard period of study. For the analysis we calculated ordinal logistic regression models for each outcome variable of academic success.
RESULTS: A total of N = 2,370 participants (response rate: RR = 47%) participated in the study. Having completed vocational training was associated with a higher amount of repeated examinations (small effect), while having an academic degree was associated with worse scores on the second state examination (medium effect). No significant association emerged between voluntary service and academic success.
CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that professional and academic pre-qualifications pose no advantage for academic success. Possible associations with the financing of study and living conditions of students with pre-qualifications were analysed and discussed in an exploratory manner. However, the operationalisation of academic success from objective and cognitive data should be critically discussed, as the benefits of prior experience may be captured by personal qualities rather than examination results.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in increasing motivational factors within the domain of psychology. Among these factors, Grit, Mindset, Self-Efficacy, and Well-Being (Flourishing) have been suggested to play an important role in individuals\' performance and Well-Being. Thus, cultivating these factors in the general population is important. Previous interventions have displayed substantial effects in certain areas. However, these interventions have primarily been Mindset oriented. This paper presents a novel intervention approach by also emphasizing the importance of brain development; the importance of stimuli for building a network in the brain; the importance of repetition for strengthening the network; and the importance of perseverance and deliberate practice for achievement. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of a 35-40 min online intervention to increase the beliefs of \'I CAN\' for 38 university students in Norway. The mean age of the 38 participants was 22.55 (SD = 1.59) and they completed a pre-test assessment of the Grit-S Scale, Theories of Intelligence Scale (Mindset), General Self-Efficacy Scale, and Flourishing Scale (Well-Being). This was followed up by the novel intervention and finally a post-test of the scales eight weeks later. The results showed an increase in Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Well-Being. However, only Grit displayed a significant increase. We aimed at creating an intervention where the participants would \"turn on the switch\", meaning that they develop stronger beliefs. These promising results warrant a further development of the intervention, and studies with a larger group.

Life satisfaction is vital for a smooth transition to emerging adulthood. However, research on age and gender-related fluctuations in life satisfaction has yielded inconclusive and culture-specific results, which necessitates further investigation in more diverse contexts, including the Chinese culture. Despite the attribution theory and the value-as-a-moderator model highlighting the significance of achievement attribution in this period characterized by the pursuit of success, little is known about the specific impact of internal and external achievement attribution on the development of life satisfaction. This study examined life satisfaction trajectories from adolescence to emerging adulthood and explored the moderating effects of gender and achievement attribution, using five waves of data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). The sample consists of 504 youth (52.2% female), whose life satisfaction was tracked from 2012 (Mage = 16.55, SD = 0.50) to 2020 (Mage = 24.56, SD = 0.50). The multilevel growth models revealed that life satisfaction increased from ages 16 to 18, peaked at age 18, fell until age 20, and then remained stable from ages 20 to 24. No significant association was found between gender or external achievement attribution and life satisfaction development. Youth with higher internal achievement attribution had a greater increase in life satisfaction from ages 16 to 18, but had a larger decrease from ages 18 to 20. Adjusting internal achievement attribution may help alleviate the vulnerability of youth experiencing declining life satisfaction when transitioning to adulthood.

OBJECTIVE: The present study examined the impact of academic engagement, study processes, and grit on the academic achievement of physical education and sport university students.
METHODS: An internet-based survey recruited 459 university students aged 19-25 years (M = 21 ± 1.3) in physical education and sports (PES) to fill out questionnaires on Physical Education-Study Process Questionnaire (PE-SPQ), Physical Education-Grit (PE-Grit), academic engagement (A-USEI), and Grade Point Average (GPA). A path analysis was carried out to understand variable relationships.
RESULTS: Data from each variable exhibited symmetrical and normal distribution, as indicated by the skewness and kurtosis values. The model\'s fit indices showed sufficient Comparative Fit Index (CFI = 0.92), Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI = 0.90), Goodness of Fit Index (GFI = 0.99) and Normed Fit Index (NFI = 0.90) and showed acceptable levels. The results indicated a statistically significant positive impact of engagement (β = 0.299, p < 0.001) and study processes (β = 0.397, p < 0.001) on academic achievement. However, the effect of grit on achievement was non-significant.
CONCLUSIONS: Academic engagement as well as study processes are two important factors predicting academic achievement while grit seems to be not a major predictor. Hence, physical education and sport faculty and university administrators should prioritize student engagement as a determinant of academic outcomes by reforming or redesigning physical education and sport curriculum modules that can facilitate engagement.

BACKGROUND: Mathematics homework is highly prevalent in East Asia. Teachers and parents expect mathematics homework to improve students\' performance; however, studies have not clearly defined the effectiveness of the assignment of different amounts of homework.
OBJECTIVE: This study analyses the differential effect of homework amount on various facets of Chinese students\' mathematics achievement using a longitudinal design. It aims, thereby, to contribute to the existing knowledge of homework effectiveness and mathematics learning and to provide insights for student development.
METHODS: The sample included 2383 grade 9 students from a mid-sized city with a moderate level of economic and educational development in central China.
METHODS: We administered a student-reported questionnaire, collected school reports of mathematics achievements to track retrospective longitudinal variations in mathematics over half a year and analysed the differential effectiveness of homework on mathematics achievement at four hierarchical cognitive levels with Hierarchical Linear Model.
RESULTS: The results indicated that assigning more homework at the class level could enhance students\' mathematics achievement at a low cognitive level, although this effectiveness tended to disappear when the set homework time reached about 1.5-2 h. We did not find evidence that assigning more homework enhances students\' mathematics achievement at higher cognitive levels.
CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this study provides evidence on the effectiveness of homework and offers implications for educational practice and future research.

The top 100 ATP/WTA ranking points are a crucial indicator of entry into the high-level world of tennis players, and the number of players from a nation in this ranking reflects the overall level of their tennis. However, the growth time series characteristics of elite tennis athletes are unclear.
This study aims to examine the historical career ranking changes of elite players and provide valuable insights for aspiring young players looking to achieve success in the sport. At the same time, it is of great significance for the efficient and sustainable cultivation of Chinese tennis players.
Data on the rankings of 202 players were analyzed, Spearman and Pearson correlations were employed to investigate the association between ranking and time-use patterns. The variance test was utilized to compare disparities in time characteristics of the ranking, with a statistical significance level of p<0.05.
There was a significant correlation between the time of entering the professional tournament ranking system and the ranking, top 100 time, top 100 age, and age of starting tennis. Top 50 ATP players are earlier than those ranked 51-100. There was a significant difference between the age of starting tennis and the time to top 10 among the ATP and WTA players. Chinese female players showed no significant differences compared to their global Top 10 counterparts in terms of time-to-success characteristics.
The elite tennis players who achieve success typically start playing and competing in the sport at a young age, with professional competition often commencing around 18 years of age. Notably, these players frequently attain high rankings before reaching the age of 20. Furthermore, top 10 ATP male players tend to start tennis at an earlier age and require a shorter time to achieve a top 10 ranking compared with WTA female players.

OBJECTIVE: The study explored the prospective relations between depression and approach-avoidance achievement goals of undergraduate students in China.
METHODS: 2473 full-time undergraduates reported their depression and achievement goals annually from the freshman to the senior year. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and cross-lagged models.
RESULTS: Students\' achievement goals decreased gradually during the first 3 years but rose in the fourth year, and the avoidance goals appeared to be less prevalent than the approach goals over time. Depression was negatively associated with approach goals, whereas positively correlated with avoidance goals. Depression in the freshman and sophomore years resulted in more avoidance goals 1 year later, and the depressive problems in the junior year predicted the decline of approach goals in the senior year.
CONCLUSIONS: The present study highlighted the deleterious effects of depression on the achievement goals of college students.