Healthcare Policy, Innovation and Digitalization by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789819959648
Publisher: Springer Nature Singapore

8.1 Self-Determination Theory

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?

Gibran Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

Self-determination theory (SDT) is a successful and popular theory of motivation, of what drives people to act (Deci and Ryan 1985, 2000, 2008; Gagné et al. 2022; Ryan 2019; Ryan and Deci 2000, 2002, 2017, 2020). Based on SDT, researchers have made significant contributions to a plethora of application areas including health, specifically health care, health professions education, and digital health (Gorin et al. 2014; Halvari et al. 2017; Keenan et al. 2021; Kusurkar et al. 2012; Kusurkar and Croiset 2015; Morbée et al. 2021; Nelson et al. 2022; Nicholas et al. 2021; Orsini et al. 2016; Smit et al. 2017; Williams et al. 2007; Wuyts et al. 2021). As an example, SDT can be employed to theoretically identify and select useful constructs and measures to inform, change, or maintain health behavior in effective ways, thus providing for a principled approach to health behavior interventions (Bellg 2003; Block et al. 2016; Gillison et al. 2019; Ng et al. 2012; Ntoumanis et al. 2021; Ryan et al. 2008; Silva et al. 2014; Teixeira et al. 2020).

A common observation across these works is the importance of autonomous or uncontrolled, in particular intrinsic, motivation. Empirically corroborated in SDT publications, the more internalized or autonomous motivation is, ideally intrinsic motivation, the more effective and abiding the outcomes and behaviors are in general. For example, you live healthier, grow, and feel well mentally. SDT posits that such internalized or intrinsic motivation arises from the satisfaction to sufficient degree, of three basic psychological needs, innate and universal (see also Conesa et al. 2022). These psychological needs are competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Competence is the need for being good at something, feeling effective, autonomy refers to the perceived choices and control over one’s decisions, actions, or behaviors, and relatedness stands for being connected to others through positive relationships, feeling understood and cared for.

A pictorial representation of this fundamental postulate is shown in Fig. 8.1, where it can be seen that satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness facilitates internalized or intrinsic motivation..

Fig. 8.1Basic psychological needs and motivation

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