ABSTRACT
Introduction: Despite the epidemiological contingency caused by COVID-19, the academic training of nursing professionals did not cease, and Cuba restarted the process of specialization of its graduates in four specialties. The requests for definitive quits received in the first weeks motivated the authors to write this article, in which this training is assumed as requiring high motivation towards study. Objective: To characterize the academic motivation of residents in nursing specialties in Camagüey. Methods: Cross-sectional and descriptive study carried out from December 2020 to February 2021 in the hospital centers of Camagüey where the specialization is received. The work was completed with the population of 47 residents enrolled in the specialties. As empirical methods, the adapted educational motivation scale, the semistructured interview and observation were applied. The following dimensions were assumed: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and amotivation. For the analysis of quantitative data, distribution of absolute frequencies and percentage calculation were used. The data were qualified by means of content analysis, which yielded two categories. Results: Intrinsic academic motivation predominated, accounting for 63.00 % of the residents;followed by extrinsic motivation, present in 23.00 %. Only 5.00 % were unmotivated. Conclusions: There are different typologies of intrinsic academic motivation related to the studied specialty. Achievement-directed motivation predominated. Within extrinsic regulation, most of the sample subjects had identified regulation, followed by introjected and external regulation. © 2022, Editorial Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.