A century of psychological science has demonstrated that social conditions supporting people’s basic psychological needs can foster the most volitional and high-quality forms of motivation and engagement. In the workplace this leads to enhanced performance, persistence, creativity, workplace satisfaction, reduced stress, and better physical health outcomes. On the other hand, when these psychological needs are not supported or perhaps thwarted within a social context, psychological and physical wellness suffer. This presentation is intended to provide an overview of motivation science with a focus on applying this knowledge to enhance audience members' healthcare facilities. 

Nurse Learner Outcome: After attending this session, 80% of participants will self-report an increased understanding of human motivation and the social contexts that support both the quantity and quality of workplace motivation on the post session evaluation.

Learner Objectives:

1. Define the three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
2. Describe at least one aspect of their workplace context that they could influence to increase the need supportiveness of that environment for each of the three psychological needs.
3. Describe how one’s perception of the social context ultimately determines how need-supportive it is for them.
4. Describe, in general terms, at least one scientific study of psychological needs in healthcare contexts well enough to explain how the findings of the research might be applied to their workplace setting.