International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD)

Volume: 3 | Issue: 3 | Mar-Apr 2019 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 - 6470

Student Nurses Academic Performance-

Multidimensional Constructs
Dr. Ayman Johargy1, Dr. Pushpamala Ramaiah2, Dr. Ibtesam Nomani3,
Lamia Ahmed Elsayed4, Grace Lindsey5
1Associate Professor of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University
2Professor at Faculty of Nursing, Umm-Al-Qura University, KSA
3Assistant Professor at Faculty of Nursing, Umm-Al Qura University, Makkah
4
Professor of Pediatric Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Ain Shams University
4
Professor at Faculty of Nursing, Umm-Al Qura University, Makkah
5
Professor at Faculty of Nursing, Umm-Al-Qura University, KSA

How to cite this paper: Dr. Ayman

ABSTRACT
Johargy | Dr. Pushpamala Ramaiah | Dr.
The success of any educational institution is measured by its academic
Ibtesam Nomani | Lamia Ahmed Elsayed
performance or how well students meet the standards set out. This study aimed
| Grace Lindsey "Student Nurses
to determine the factors affecting the academic performance of second and third
Academic Performance-
year student nurses in Saudi Arabia. Academic success is important because it is
Multidimensional
strongly linked to the positive outcomes we value… Academic success is
Constructs"
important because working people will need higher levels of education to tackle
Published in
the technologically demanding occupations of the future. This study may benefit
International Journal
the students by allowing them to understand better the factors that can affect
of Trend in Scientific
their academic performance. A quantitative descriptive design was utilized. Self-
Research and
reporting course survey questionnaire was the main method used for data
Development
IJTSRD23144 gathering. Average weighted mean and proportions were used to determine the
(ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-
level of impact of the different factors affecting student nurses’ academic
6470, Volume-3 | Issue-3, April 2019,
performance. The items on “What happened during the course” found to be of
pp.818-822, URL:
high impact. Meanwhile few items in the same category fell in the low range and
https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd2
rated related to their grading as moderate. In the aspect of course evaluation, the
3144.pdf
first item on “what I learnt in this course is important and will be useful to me”
was determined to have the greatest impact among the course related items.
Copyright © 2019
Among the five domains, the item related to their overall evaluation “Satisfied
by author(s) and
with the quality of the course” fall behind the teacher related factors. Based from
International
the findings, it was concluded that several factors pose high impact on the
Journal of Trend in Scientific Research
academic performance of student nurses, with teacher related factors topping
and Development Journal. This is an
the list.
Open Access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (CC BY 4.0)
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ KEYWORDS: Academic performance, Lecturer Student Relationship, Instructors
by/4.0) knowledge and availability, Self-esteem, Domains of evaluation Checklist

Introduction:
Students are key assets of universities. The students’ utilization of effective and evidence-based teaching
performance plays an important role in producing best strategies. (Makhosazane B.Dube and Puseletso R.Mlotshwa.
quality graduates, who will become great leaders and 2018). Environments which are supportive, collective and
manpower for the county thus responsible for the country’s cooperative may increase engagement of nursing students
economic and social development. Thus, students have to which lead to improved readiness for clinical training. (Sajid
put the greatest effort in their study to obtain good grades et al. 2013)
and to prepare themselves for future opportunities in their
career at the same time to fulfill the employer’s demand. Significance of the study:
Student’s nurses identified some factors that could improve The result of this study may benefit the students by allowing
the academic performance of students. Chief among them them to understand better the factors that can affect their
were parental involvement in education; good nurse academic performance. They may be able to improve their
educator-student relationship; academic support services academic performance with the finding that is established by
offered by teachers; use of information and communication this study. For the teachers, this study may help them to
technologies for learning, coupled with adequate learning recognize problems encountered by the student that may
facilities (library, computer laboratory and classroom pose and effect in their performance. They may find
space); availability of qualified nurse educators; and alternative actions on how to handle their students. For the

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 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
school administrators, they may be able to promote thinking were distributed by the researcher herself to the student in
skills assessment in their school, letting their teachers the classroom at the school twice over a period of 1 week to
understand the influences of their student’s preferred a group of second and third year students at the end of the
learning style that will promote adequate learning semester. The main question was to self-grade question
opportunities and effective instructions. Hence this study about their own assessment of their motivation on a scale
aims at investigating the impact of academic performances graded from 0 to 5, were 0 was not motivated at all and 5
with regard to five major domains of teaching learning was highly motivated. This rating scale has labeled ends,
aspects. which specify the opposite extremes of a continuum. A rating
Literature Review: scale with odd numbers is recommended to allow for a
According to available literature, there are some neural midpoint, which is why “3” point was chosen in this
impediments to good academic performance by students study. Thereafter followed an open-ended question asking
nurses. They include excessive homework assignments for which factors exerted an influence on their motivation.
the students, poor facilities, inadequate provision of basic Roseberg self-esteem scale (SLES), containing items to elicit
needs by parents and inappropriate student perceptions information from the respondents was used to compare
(Dinkpa&Inegbu 2013), poor teaching (Manson 2014), academic performance with self-esteem.
misunderstanding of academic questions (Bradbury & Miller
2011) and time constraints when students have to read the Research Questions:
questions, translate it into the home language and then 1. What is the level of impact of the different factors on the
choose the correct answer (Doley 2010) are some more. In academic performance of student nurses?
contrast, lecturer-student relationships (Nyadanu et 2. Which indicator among each of the five factors has the
al.2015), a cohesive school atmosphere (Chowa et al. 2015), highest impact on student nurses’ academic
a welcoming atmosphere (Courtney-Pratt et al. 2011) and performance?
students with higher-level entry qualifications 3. Which set of factors has the greatest effect on the
(McCarey,Barr&Rattray 2007) are some predictors of academic performance of Second and Third year student
students’ good academic performance. Moreover, a proper nurse?
clinical education and an appropriate learning environment 4. What is the level of correlation between self-esteem and
(Severinsson& Sand 2010) can lead to an adequate clinical academic performance of the students?
performance.
Data Analysis:
Method: The data were captured on spreadsheets after having been
A quantitative design, namely a survey, was used to gathered and examined for completeness. The
determine the perceptions of enrolled student nurses on questionnaires were coded, computed and analyzed using
factors influencing their academic performance in a nursing latest version of Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS),
school in Makkah. Version 23. The statistical calculations included frequency
counts, percentages, mean value and standard deviation. To
Participants: compare the graded motivation between the semesters the
The target population was enrolled student nurses in non-parametric Kruskal-Walls test was used. Data were
nursing school in Saudi Arabia. Respondents included further analyzed according to their motivating score value
second and second-year enrolled nursing students at a <3 and >3 as well as the extreme values of a 0 or 5 score. The
nursing training institution who had registered for the reliability of this instrument accurate reflects the true score
nursing course. A convenient sampling was decided upon. of the attribute investigated. The open-ended questions in
The sample size was calculated using a computer program the questionnaire were inductively analyzed in a systematic
known as Raosoft sample calculator, employing the following way that lead to the drawing of inferences. The process used
parameters to ensure representativeness: margin of error of when analyzing the data was similar to content analysis.
5%, confidence level of 95%, a response rate of 50% and a
population of 142 as sample size. The setting was selected Results & Discussion:
for its easy access by the researcher. Categories occurred in the data are summarized in Table1.
Category is measured as a positive valued category as well as
Data Collection: a negative valued category. Each individual could answer
The course evaluation questionnaire is composed of four more than one reason for their graded motivation score. This
general title of start of the course, during the course, inductive analysis of the individual’s explanation of
evaluation of the course, over all evaluation, and an open- motivation has been linked to her degree of motivation.
ended question soliciting any additional comments. During analyzing phase, the analysis were performed
Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that the academic separately by the two researchers and thereafter compared.
performance of students would be improved if the The level of agreement between the two co-examiners was
aforementioned four factors were properly addressed and about 95% and points of disagreement were resolved
monitored. The researcher’s contribution to this study was through discussion. The road to a bachelor’s degree in
to describe the four factors believed to influence’ academic nursing might be filled with both possibilities and obstacles.
performance. The questionnaire uses a 5-point likert Scale How nursing students, who complete their nursing
ranging from Strongly Disagree to Strongly agree.. Each education, motivated towards their studies at different
question has an open-end component that probes for semesters are being studied here (through course evaluation
comments relevant to a specific question. Respondents were survey among second and third year) towards achieving
requested to sign a declaration form as soon as they agreed active learning goals, performance goals, ability-linked goals
to participate in the study. The researcher explained to them and normative goals and that outcome goals (wanting a good
how to complete the questionnaire to avoid wastage, errors grade).
and spoiled questionnaires. Thereafter, the questionnaires

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Categories Emerged from the Analyzed Data:
Negative Value Motivation
Categories Emerged Positive Value Motivation Score above 3
Score Below 3
The knowledge and skills with regard to the
The course outline was made clear Doesn’t facilitate constructive
course was designed to facilitate
to them. learning experience.
constructive learning.
Able to supervise even the most challenging Reference materials and the
Faculty office hours and reference
students and the reference materials were faculty office hours were not
material were made clear to them.
supportive. sufficient.
My instructor(s) were fully
committed to the delivery of the Very engaged teachers. Not engaged.
course.
The resources I needed in this
A stimulating organization of the program
course (textbooks, library, Was not noticed.
is noticed.
computers etc.)
The amount of work I had to do in
Having a positive attitude towards the Having negative attitude
this course was reasonable for the
studies. towards studies.
credit hours allocated.
Grading of my tests and assignment
Having a positive attitude about grading of
in this course was fair and Having negative attitude.
test and assignment.
reasonable.
This course helped to me develops
Not achieving a good study
my skills in working as a member of Achieving a good study results.
result.
a team.

When analyzing the explanation from all the students’ scoring of the 0 – 5 scale, the data were analyzed into to two parts;
motivation score ≤ 3 and motivation score ≥ 3 define as low and high motivation respectively and this is shown in the above
table. Statements made by second year when justifying low motivation were in most cases; with regard to the Instructors and
resources, while the statement made by third years justified high motivation for the same categories. The outstanding
statement for a high motivation score was that the course helped them to develop their skills in working as a member of a team.
At the same time several students found the organization of the program stimulating and they had a positive attitude to the
studies. Significantly more explanations were used to a high motivation score (≥3) compared to explanations for a low
motivation score (≤3).The mean score differed significantly between semesters at the p value p<0.1. The standard deviation for
the score value varied from .26 - .63. The mean motivation score over all semesters was 3.16 & 3.27 second year and third year
respectively (ranked between 0-5) and differed significantly during their semester with a tendency to lower score in the
beginning of the semester, later in their fifth semester, students were found to be with high motivation. Grading the motivation
score to a maximum of 5 was not given by any student in second year and third year. The main reasons for that were the
students longing for working in the nursing profession followed by student’s negative attitude to their studies in their first and
second level courses. The lowest grading score, 0 was also not given by any student. The specific explanation given by them was
that their interest towards nursing profession has been developed from low to high when they are promoted to their next level
of courses.

Summary of the Set of Factors Affecting the Academic Performance of Second & Third Year Nursing Students:
Mean
Questions 2nd Year 3rd Year
N-102 N-40
Questions about the start of the course
1. The Course outline (including the knowledge and skills the course was designed to 3.46 3.4
develop) was made clear to me.
2. The things I had to do succeed in the course, including assessment tasks and criteria
3.57 3.3
for assessment, were made clear to me
3. Sources of help for me during the course including faculty office hours and reference
3.10 3.1
material were made clear to me.
Questions about what happened during the course
4. The conduct of the course and the things I was asked to do were consistent with the 3.23 3.4
course outline
5. My instructor(s) were fully committed to the delivery of the course. (Eg. Classes
3.49 3.9
started on time, instructor always present, material well prepared, etc.,)
6. My instructor(s) had thorough knowledge of the content of the course. 3.34 4.1
7. My instructor(s) were available during office hours to help me. 3.79 3.8
8. My instructor(s) were enthusiastic about what they were teaching 2.67 3.9
9. My instructor(s) cared about my progress and were helpful to me. 2.90 2.9
10. Course materials were of up to date and useful. (Texts, handouts, references etc.) 2.93 2.8

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 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
11. The resources I needed in this course (textbooks, library, computers etc.) were 2.90 2.7
available when I needed them.
12. In this course effective use was made of technology to support my learning. 3.08 3
13. In this course I was encouraged to ask questions and develop my own ideas. 3.04 3.2
14. In this course I was inspires to do my best work. 2.98 3.3
15. The things I had to do in this course (class activities, assignments, laboratories etc)
were helpful for developing the knowledge and skills the course was intended to 3.19 3.6
teach.
16. The amount of work I had to do in this course was reasonable for the credit hours
3.10 2.9
allocated.
17. Marks for assignment and tests in this course were given to me within reasonable 3.12 3.2
time.
18. Grading of my tests and assignments in this course was fair and reasonable. 3.00 2.7
19. The links between this course and other courses in my total program were made clear 3.16 3.6
to me.
Evaluation of the Course
3.52 4.4
20. What I learned in this course is important and will be useful to me.
21. This course helped me to improve my ability to think and solve problem rather than
3.06 3.3
just memorize information
22. This course helped me to develop my skills in working as a member of a team. 3.32 3.6
23. This course improved my ability to communicate effectively 3.13 3.6
24. Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of this course. 2.86 3.2

Findings from the study revealed that a good and supportive student-centered learning that will potentially enhance
relationship between faculty members and fostered better academic performance and clinical competence of students
academic performance among (Murphy et al. 2010). However, traditional teaching
students of third year with the mean grade point 3.72 approaches that focus mainly on information-giving
(SD=.222), which is significantly higher than second year activities in the classroom, firmly controlled by the teacher,
students perception. Faculty office hours and the resources do not promote realistic academic performance (Chilemba&
at department were utilized more effectively by the third Bruce 2015:55; Van Zyl 2014:20).
year nursing students concurred with the suggestion that
academic support services (Faculty office hours, resources Conclusion:
and start of the course with course outline) offered by The study revealed that among the major category five
teachers helped to improve their academic performance. domains, the item related to their overall evaluation
Similar to these finding, Cooper (2010:23) noted that one “Satisfied with the quality of the course” fall behind the
strategy for increasing student persistence and both teacher related factors. Based from the findings, it was
academic and clinical performance outcomes lies in the area concluded that several factors pose high impact on the
of student support services. These types of services are a academic performance of student nurses, with teacher
standard feature at most higher education institutions and related factors topping the list. There was little interaction
therefore play a role in promoting successful outcomes for between lecturers and students resulting in the average
nursing college students. There had been 14 objects in relationship, the prevailing relationship was not stronger
second year and 18 objects in third year scored 3.1-3.5 enough to influence high academic and high level attainment
which indicated positive aspect, student reported that but rather encouraged high self-esteem which in turn
teaching is often stimulating and they are clear about the motivated high level academic development (p<0.01)
learning objectives of course, additionally their instructors significantly. The perceptions of their learning environment
have good communication skills and were well prepared for were “more positive than negative” with the significant
their teaching. difference between second and third year group of students.

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