Aims: Understanding the goals of achievement and educational self-efficacy of the students might lead to their more engagement and then, higher learning and academic scheivement. The aim of this study was to investigate the mediating role of academic engagement in a relation to the achievement goals with academic self-efficacy.

Instrument & Methods: In the correlational study, 360 female and meale medical, nursing, midwifery, and paramedical students of Kerman Shahid Bahonar University of Medical Sciences were studied in 2015. The subjects were selected via cluster random sampling. Data was collected using acheivemnet goals, academic self-efficacy, and academic engagement questionnaires. To investigate the causal model of caheivement goals, academic engagement, and salf-efficacy, correlative descarptive (by SPSS 20 and Amos 22 softwares) and path analysis (based on structural equations modeling) methods were used.

Findings: There were significant effects between mastery approach and mastery avoidance approach and academic engagement and academic self-efficacy (p<0.05). There was a correlation between the goal of positively mastery approach and motivational, cognitive, and behavioral engagements. The higher the motivational and cognitive engagements were, the higher the academic self-efficacy was. In addition, based on the model fitness indices, fitness of the model was favorable.  

Conclusion: motivational and cognitive engagements play a complete mediator role between mastery approach goals and academic self-efficacy.