Abstract
Background: Ongoing participation in continuing professional development (CPD) is essential for advancing nursing knowledge and practice competency. Professional knowledge can become outdated quickly and knowledge gaps can have far-reaching effects on practice. Self-directed learning fosters nurses’ autonomy and responsibility for their own learning and motivation to learn. There is little evidence in the literature on the relationship between nurses’ self-directed learning readiness (SDLR) and motivation factors influencing CPD participation. The purpose of this study was to examine nurses’ SDLR and factors that motivate participation. Methods: A cross-sectional, correlational study was used to explore the relationships between registered nurses’ demographic characteristics, SDLR, and motivation for participation. Multiple regression was used to identify predictors of motivation for CPD participation. Results: Spearman's rho correlation showed a positive correlation between age and years of practice (p = .05). The number of CPD activities participated in and years of practice were positively correlated with SDLR and motivation (p = .001). Over 50% (R² = .53) of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation was explained by the predictor variables (p = .05). Independently, SDLR scores explained over 25% of the regression models for intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for CPD participation. Conclusions: Age and years of nursing practice have a positive correlation with nurses’ SDLR and motivation for CPD. SDLR has a significant influence on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for CPD participation. Nurses with higher SDLR are more motivated for CPD participation. They are older and have more years of nursing practice experience which suggests that SDLR and motivation for CPD develops over their nursing careers. They place greater importance on professional development activities to advance their practice competency and careers. Further research is needed on nurses’ motivation for CPD participation to identify other influences including organizational systems factors post COVID. Research will inform development of strategies for mandatory CPD participation to promote practice competency.