Introduction: Goal orientation is one of the factors influencing academic achievement and behavior. It can also explain the relationship between the university student’s beliefs about academic achievement, engagement, and continuity in performing a learning task.
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 135 Midwifery students of Shahid Sadoughi University of
Medical Sciences included .The data collection tool was the educational goal orientation questionnaire of Buffard et al. along with 20 questions in three dimensions of mastery, functional, and avoidance orientation. The students' average marks were the criterion for academic achievement. The data were analyzed using linear regression and one-way ANOVA.
Results: Based on the results of the study, the mean and standard deviation of the mastery orientation was 23.68±4.33, the functional orientation 27.65 ± 5.36, and the avoidance orientation was 25.14 ± 4.91. The total goal orientation score was 76.47 ± 12.73. The linear regression results showed a significant relationship between performance orientation and avoidance with academic achievement. According to one-way ANOVA, there was a significant relationship between the age difference and the year of entering the university with different orientations. Moreover, the results of independent t-test showed that there was a significant relationship between age (P=0.0001) marital status (P=0.001) and employment status (P=0.02) with different orientations.
Conclusion: Based on the results of the study, it is recommended to plan for the further academic achievement in
accordance with their interest in order to improve the academic achievement of midwifery students, while identifying their orientation in early semesters of the university.