ASSESSMENT OF THE FACTORS AFFECTING ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENT NURSES

ASSESSMENT OF THE FACTORS AFFECTING ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENT NURSES

            Nursing is one of the courses that attract thousands of students in the Philippines hoping to get better paying jobs abroad. Today nursing as a profession has gained a positive reputation due to its promising income and opportunity to work abroad. While the number of enrollees increase each year, nursing schools also proliferate. The concern that the government today has in relation to the volume of students enrolling in the course and the mushrooming of nursing schools is to ensure quality nursing education that will not only benefit the students themselves but will also raise the reputation of the Philippines in the global health profession. It is also important to note that not only are nursing schools expensive, nursing as an academic discipline is also comparatively difficult. Not all students who enroll and study nursing finish their academic requirements and graduate as nurses. One of the reasons of the high attrition rate is academic performance.

            There are several factors affecting student academic performance. These are socio-economic status, motivation, intellectual ability, stress, and social factors. The relationship between socio-economic status and academic performance is a saturated research area. Studies have proven that socio-economic status is highly correlated with academic performance, at all levels and in all courses. Some research however suggests that socio-economic status is a determinant of college attendance rather than academic performance (NLSP, n.d.). In a more common sense assessment, self-supporting students are likely to miss classes due to work and the pressure of putting food on the table and the payment of tuition fees. The fact remains however that classroom attendance is necessary for a better understanding of their knowledge and its application. In some schools class attendance is compulsory and has a bearing on the grades of the students. Given the above-mentioned assumptions, the self-supporting student therefore gets lower grades than his classmates who belong to the higher socio-economic status.

            Motivation defined as “internal energy which drives a person to do something in order to achieve something” (Romando, nd) is an important factor that is associated with academic performance. There are two types of motivation that affect academic performance, extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation among nursing students may be the desire to earn dollars and go abroad and discover the world. Intrinsic motivators for nursing students may be the genuine desire to become a nurse and not just taking the nursing course because of family or peer pressure or the lure of dollars and or travel abroad.  A study conducted by Chacko and Huba (1991) on academic achievement of undergraduate nursing students revealed that motivation has a direct effect on the academic achievement of nursing students. There are no studies however that differentiate from extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and whether intrinsic motivation positively affects academic performance of nursing students, more than extrinsic motivation. Intellectual ability may determine academic performance. There are no empirical proofs whether very bright students achieve more or average students underachieve. There are other mediating factors such as quality of teaching instruction and a healthy and challenging environment that may put off an average student but encourage the brighter student to excel.

            Stress results from any situation or thought that is perceived as negative causing the person to feel angry, frustrated, nervous or anxious, and that which arouses emotional, mental and physical response (Morrow, 2011). There are two types of stress: positive and negative. It is assumed that positive stress positively impacts academic performance and negative stress reduces academic performance.  Stress is an important factor because stress affects health, memory retention, anxiety, judgment, future outlook or ambition, self-esteem and mental health (Kuhn, 2008).

            Social factors such as culture, gender, the influence of peers, media, the family, politics and religion are important determinants of academic performance. Social factors affect motivation and are thus considered as mediating variables that affect motivational level whether positively or negatively thereby affecting academic performance.

            In conclusion academic achievement of nursing students is affected by socio-economic status, motivation, intellectual ability, stress and social factors. In addition to the abovementioned factors an interesting area in the research of nurses’ academic achievement may focus on emotional quotient and its effect on academic achievement. Another realm of research in nursing academic achievement is to look into emotional intelligence and its effect on the academic achievement of nursing students. This is a very relevant study knowing that the nursing profession requires nurses who are able to deal with a lot of challenges and pressures at work and which requires emotional stability and adaptability. 

REFERENCES

Chacko, SB., and Huba ME., 1991. Academic achievement among undergraduate nursing students: the development and test of a causal model. Abstract only. [online] Available at: < http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1649277> [Accessed 10 May 2011].

 

Kuhn, E., 2008. Student Stress and Academic Performance: Seven Ways in Which Too Much Stress Can Affect Your Grades. [online] Available at: < http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/student-stress-and-academic-performance-seven-ways-in-which-too-much-stress-can-affect-your-grades-467673.html> [Accessed 10 May 2011].

 

Morrow, A., 2011. Stress Definition. [online] Available at: < http://dying.about.com/od/glossary/g/stress.htm> [Accessed 10 may 2011].

 

NLSP, n.d. College attendance: socioeconomic status outpaces academic achievement. [online] Available at: < http://www.nslp.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/03/24/42443a7b2075f> [Accessed 10 May 2011].

 

Romando, R., n.d. Define Motivation. [online] Available at: < http://ezinearticles.com/?Define-Motivation&id=410696> [Accessed 10 May 2011].

 

 

 

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