Attitude of Optometry Students towards Their Field of Study and Job Prospects

Discussion and conclusion

The aim of this study was to investigate the attitude and interest of undergraduate optometric students regarding their field of study. Based on the findings of the present study, the majority of students (75.6%) had a positive attitude toward their academic field. A study in Rasht, by Ms. Alizadeh et al., regarding the attitude of midwifery students towards their field of study showed that the average and standard deviation of students' attitude toward the study field was 16.42 ± 3.18, and minimum and maximum of student's grades regarding their attitudes towards the academic field were 7 and 21, respectively. Overall, the results of this study showed that midwifery students had a positive attitude towards their field of study (12), which is consistent with the results of the present study.

Contrary to the results of the current study in which most of the students had a positive attitude towards their field of study, findings of a study by Shakibaee et al. regarding environmental health students showed that the average students had a negative attitude towards their academic field. Shakibaee considered the reason for this negative attitude was reduced motivation by increasing academic years (13).

In his study, Caravoz also points out the negative attitude of the community towards nursing profession and that the nursing field is influenced by the community and showing the position of this profession in the media can affect the attitude of nursing students towards their profession (14).

In the results of the present study, the score of students' attitude towards their field of study was 1.63-3 and the mean score was between 2.05-2.65 with a 95% probability, which was an acceptable score. One of the factors that can increase motivation and interest can be the variety of educational materials and the possibility of continuing education at higher levels. In terms of optometry, given the possibility of PhD studies in Iran over the last four years, this will increase the interest and motivation of undergraduate students. Another factor to be noted is the ability to teach with a master's degree, which raises the motivation of students to continue their education. Serving the people and society and the proper social status can improve the students' satisfaction and their attitudes. Positive attitudes make the person more interested in learning and improve the quality of his / her knowledge. Of course, this goal will be achieved if appropriate educational and clinical facilities are available. The scores of students' attitude towards the job prospects were 1.88-2.88 and the mean of their attitudes toward the job future with was between 2.24-2.66 with a 95% probability, which shows that most students had a positive attitude towards their job prospects. According to these results, the findings of the study in Zahedan showed that the attitude of students about the job's prospects was 19.78 ± 3.71 with a range of 7-28, which confirmed that 60.6% of students had a positive attitude toward the job’s prospects (8). On the other hand, contrary to the results of our study in which most students had a positive attitude towards their job prospects, the findings of the Kashitarash in Hamedan regarding the attitude of health students toward the job prospects were lower than acceptable (10).

Job motivation is essential for efficient employment. If one is not interested in his job, continued employment will be tedious and even impossible. For this reason, we can consider a relationship between job motivation and job success. Positive attitude towards the future of the job will lead to job motivation, which will also lead to job success (5).

Although the results of our study indicate that most optometric students have a positive attitude toward the career prospect, few of them have a negative attitude towards the career prospect, which can be due to the present conditions of the society; one of the factors that can cause the negative attitude of optometric students towards the future of their job is increasing the acceptance of students in recent years. This worry is for students studying in some western provinces of the country and Mashhad, which results in the acceptance of work under any circumstances after graduation. Other factors include the entry of opticians into the labor market.

In the present study, the majority of students positively answered the question "Would you select optometry again if you would participate the entrance exam again?", despite the significant number of new students entering the job market and affecting the earnings of graduates, and they also often introduce this field to others. Introducing the field to others shows the interest in the field.

In the context of the above question, these results are in line with the findings of the Rasht study. In their study in Rasht, Alizadeh et al. showed that 66.5% of the students responded positively to re-selection of midwifery if they would participate again in the entrance exam, and 63.8% of the students stated that they would recommend this field of study to others (12).

It should be noted that in the current study, 43% of the students disagreed with the question that the possibility of continuing education is low, and 39.5% agreed with the fact that optometry is worth more in higher levels. It should be noted that Mashhad University of Medical Sciences is one of the leading universities in the field of optometry, and the first graduate and PhD students of optometry were admitted to this university. The authors believe that the presence of postgraduate students in the optometry group is influential in the attitudes of undergraduate students to continuing education. According to the results of our study, in a study in Rasht, 56.5% of the students agreed with the fact that midwifery is worth more in higher grades, and 35.5% disagreed with the impossibility of continuing higher education (12). Also, in a study conducted in Hamadan, 50 percent of students fully agreed with the question that the environmental health field is worth more in higher levels (10).

There was a significant statistical relationship between the semester, university entrance quota and monthly household income with the attitude score in relation to the field of study (P <0.025). These results contradicted the findings of Nazari et al. In their study, there was no significant relationship between students' attitude towards the field of study and monthly household income (15). 

In the last page of the questionnaire, students were asked to express their views on the optometry field in one sentence. Most students expressed their opinion about the lack of sufficient understanding of the community in the field of optometry and the description of the duties of optometrists, and regretted the wrong decisions that ophthalmologists imposed on optometry in recent years, and often stated that these issues could naturally reduce the value and position of optometry in society and endangers the health of people in the community. Therefore, it seems that this issue should also be considered at the same time as increasing the scientific quality of the students of optometry.

According to the results of the current study, the majority of students had a positive attitude towards their academic field. Based on the findings of this study and students' attitudes toward job prospects, policy-makers and developers of training programs of the optometry can make the proper decisions to develop or restrict the development of optometry and create job opportunities for these students. The positive attitude of students toward their job prospects can influence the motivation of the students and ultimately the quality and efficiency of the graduates of this field.

One of the limitations of this research was the lack of interest and confidence of students in completing questionnaires. In order to control the limitations of this research, the researcher tried to maximize the response rate by providing adequate explanations and gaining confidence in the students. Another limitation was the low number of students and the limitation of subjects to the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. If it was possible to access optometry students of other universities, the possibility of generalizing the results was possible. It is suggested that in future studies, graduates of this field, who are working in different environments, should be investigated and compared with the results of this study.

Acknowledgements

We sincerely appreciate all students and faculty members of Optometry and Health Information Technology Group of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences who helped us with this research. We also appreciate vice president of research at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences for financial support.

The present article is derived from Ms. Azar Moradi undergraduate thesis with the code number 951128. The research was approved at the Regional Ethics Committee of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (Ethics Code: IR.MUMS.REC.1395.62).

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.