THE INFLUENCE OF CLINICAL EXPERIENCE ON THE ACADEMIC

PERFORMANCE OF STUDENT NURSES OF BAYELSA STATE

COLLEGE OF NURSING SCIENCES

 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

Attitude plays a major role in leading human toward achieving the

desired goals, awareness of its consequences, and effective

processing of complex information. Students’ attitude towards

clinical practice could be affected by a clinical environment,

student staff interaction, clinical preceptors, and the availability of

necessary equipment in a hospital setting

Lack of interest in what people do could decrease the quality of

work. More than half of all healthcare providers are Midwives and

Nurses in the healthcare setting. Hence, if the attitude of Nursing

professionals is not favorable, the quality of health care could be

compromised in a significant manner. In Nigeria, students join

Nursing and Midwifery degree programs directly after completing

secondary education which demands intensive clinical training to

acquire Nursing and Midwifery competencies

In nursing programmes, students are exposed to both theoretical

and practical components. The combination of theory and

practice in the clinical setting is seen by Mabuda, Potgieter, and

Alberts (2019) as the “art and science of nursing” (p. 19). Clinical

learning is a vital component of nursing education. In addition to

providing opportunities to develop competence in nursing skills,

the clinical environment engenders in nursing students a sense of

identity as professionals in the real world. This is because to

complete the practical component of their training; the nursing

students are assigned to a hospital or clinic under the supervision

of experienced nurse practitioners and/or educators. Clinical

supervision is defined as “a process of professional support and

learning in which nurses are assisted in developing their practice

through regular discussion time with experienced and

knowledgeable colleagues” (Fowler, 2014, as cited in Brunero &

Stein-Parbury, 2020, p. 87). Brunero and Stein-Parbury (2018)

stated that clinical supervision “provides nurses with the

opportunity to improve patient care in particular for a given

patient and in general in relation to maintaining standards of

care” (p. 87). For clinical learning and supervision to occur

successfully, Mabuda, Potgieter, and Alberts (2018) appointed to

the need for the clinical environment to be conducive to learning

as well as to be supportive. This is because such an environment

would have an effect on nursing students’ achievement and

satisfaction (Mabuda, Potgieter, & Alberts, 2018).

Statement of the problem

Since the inception of the nursing programme at the institution

used for the study, nursing students are assigned to hospitals for

seven weeks???(7 weeks clinical only for all the period of 3 years

traning?) clinical experience. When asked by their supervisors

during and after their posting, these nursing students share the

views of their clinical environment, their encounters with the

patients and their relatives, and their successes and challenges.

Despite the nursing students’ informal responses, as well as their

performance at the end of the course, there has not been any

formal quantitative research done on this topic.

A review of the literature shows that a few studies have been

done in this area around the world. For instance, in Africa, Adjei,

Sarpong, Attafuah, Amertil, and Akosah (2018) explored the

perceptions of student nurses in a private university in Ghana.

Similarly, Mabuda, Potgieter and Alberts (2019) investigated the

experiences of student nurses during clinical practice at a nursing

colleges

Studies have also been done in the Middle East by Sharif and

Masoumi (2020) who explored nursing students’ experiences of

clinical practice in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in

southern Iran; while Jamshidi, Molazem, Sharif, Torabizadeh, and

Kalyani (2019) examined the challenges of nursing students in

clinical learning Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Iran.

Other studies were done by Tiwaken, Caranto, and David (2015)

who examined the lived experiences of student nurses during

clinical practice in Bonafide Benguet State University-College of

Nursing in the Philippines in Asia. While in Europe, Mattila,

Pitkajarvi, and Eriksson (2010) studied the clinical practice

experiences of international student nurses in the Finnish health

care system. In all these studies done in different parts of the

world, the researchers used mostly the qualitative approach to

explore nursing students’ experiences during and/or after clinical

practice.
There is a significant incoherence between theory and clinical

practice and one of the cause of this discrepancy could be

attitude. A positive attitude towards clinical practice enhances

effective clinical learning. Whereas, a negative attitude hampers

the acquisition of essential clinical skills. Thus, identifying the gap

in clinical practice is noteworthy for improving the quality of

Nursing educations

Objectives of the study

The objectives of the study are;

To ascertain the attitude of nurses towards clinical

experience

To ascertain the relationship between clinical experience and

academic performance of nursing students

To identify issues encountered by the nursing students

during their clinical practice placement.

INCLUDE RESEARCH QUESTIONS.

Research hypotheses

The following hypotheses were developed for the study:

. Hypothesis One

HO: there is no relationship between clinical experience and

academic performance of nursing student.

HI: there is relationship between clinical experience and

academic performance of nursing student

Hypothesis Two

HO: there are no issues encountered by the nursing students

during their clinical practice placement

HI: there are issues encountered by the nursing students during

their clinical practice placement

Significance of the study

It is believed that the study will provide results on the clinical

placements and experiences of the nursing students that will be

beneficial to different stakeholders (nursing educators &

students). First, the nursing educators at the institution used for

the study may find the results useful since it will reveal the

nursing students’ perceptions of their clinical practice experience,

and possible ways of improving areas of weaknesses. Second, by

fixing problem areas in the course, it might enhance the learning

experience for the nursing students in the future.

Scope and limitation of the study

The scope of the study covers evaluating the influence of clinical

experience on student nurses of Bayelsa state school of nursing.

The researcher encounters some constrain which limited the

scope of the study;

a) AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL: The research

material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby

limiting the study

b) TIME: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance

wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic

activities and examinations with the study.

Operational definition of terms

Clinical experience:Clinical experience means providing direct

behavioral health services on a full-time basis or equivalent hours

of part-time work to children and adolescents who have diagnoses

of mental illness and includes supervised internships, supervised

practicums, and supervised field experience for the purpose of

Medicaid .

Academic performance: Academic performance or "academic

achievement" is the extent to which a student, teacher or

institution has attained their short or long-term educational goals.

 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

Write brief introduction of this chapter

2.1 Concept of Nursing Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group

of people live on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that

has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels or acts, (Harrison, 2019). In its narrow, technical

sense, education is the formal process by which a profession or society deliberately transmits its

accumulated knowledge, skills, customs and values from one generation to another, e.g., instruction

in schools (Robert, 2023). Nursing education is a term used to describe the overall body of

knowledge that equips people to practice nursing. Although nursing education encompasses a

variety of knowledge, attitude, skills, concepts and practice, the universally accepted concept

revolves around the unique concepts of nursing, health, the person and the environment (Melone,

2022). Harrison (2020) affirmed that nursing education is the process of preparing individuals for

caring as nurses. Through nursing education, future nurses learn the skills which are necessary to

provide patient care, develop and execute treatment, plan and teach clients how to take care of

their medical and other conditions. Nursing education consists of acquisition of a body of knowledge

that is partly delivered in a classroom setting which forms the theoretical bases of nursing

knowledge and an organized and supervised clinical learning experience. This clinical training starts

with practice in the demonstration laboratory using dummies representing different areas of nursing

care. Areas where clinical training could be done include different departments in a hospital clinics,

homes, communities, psychiatric hospitals, orthopaedic hospital, gynaecological section etc. Nursing

education takes cognizance of the national policy on education in developing sound educational
 principles which are essential to the preparation of nurses to function as members of

interdisciplinary and interdepartmental health teams (N&MCN, 2001). This programme develops the

students’ affective, cognitive and psychomotor skills in problem solving. Active participation of

nursing students in both the community and hospital based services is essential for students sound

clinical experience.

The goal of nursing education

The goal of nursing education over the years according to Searle (2020) has been to contribute to

the health of individuals and the entire society. Initially, nursing had concentrated on the care and

comfort of all the ill and injured but as a result of advances in health sciences, the emphasis is now

placed on promotive, preventive and rehabilitative care. Therefore, nursing education aims at

preparing competent polyvalent nurse practitioners who will use problem solving skills in providing

safe, acceptable, effective and affordable health services to meet the health needs of individuals,

families and the community at all levels of care (N&MCN, 2001). To achieve the aim of nursing

education, there should be a systematic direction and guidance of the students. This is to ensure

that adequate nursing knowledge is imparted to the students both theoretically and practically to

achieve proper skill and problem solving skills acquisition which will lead to efficient nursing care

(Quinn 2021).

Concept of clinical nursing training

Clinical nursing is the process through which student nurses are exposed to real life situations in order to

acquire the skills inherent in nursing profession for effective nursing practice. It provides the students

with the necessary opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills that help in critical 31 thinking and

performance of needed client’s/ patient’s care. According to Smith et al (2022), clinical nursing training

plays an important role in teaching learning process. It provides nursing students the development and
acquisition of nursing skills, self clinical experience and the ability to apply the knowledge gained from

the theoretical context to any emergency situation or in general public health care. It is only in the

clinical situations that nursing care becomes a reality and the student nurse can observe the responses

of patients to the care given (Melone, 2020). The overriding purpose of clinical education in nursing is to

prepare nurses to meet the health care needs of the public; therefore, clinical nursing programme must

be well aligned with the changes arising from health care reforms, (Ehiemere, 2019).The purpose of

clinical nursing is to promote client/patients well being and help to ease suffering and discomfort in a

manner that is legal, ethical and respectful, (Melone, 2020). The correlation of theory and practice and

the building of meaningful experiences must take place in the field of clinical practice, whether in the

school laboratory, hospital wards, clinic, or a patient’s home. The nurse learns to interact skillfully with

these people and other members of the health team. Ehiemere (2019) affirmed that the health practice

environment is becoming complex and health care is dramatically evolving to address the quality

changes. It then demands new competencies of nursing skills and practices. This in turn demands

transformation of clinical educational programmes and educational practices to meet up with the

transformation. According to Shariff 32 et al (2018), the primary drivers of transformation in nursing

clinical education are society’s need, societal demand with increased patients’ awareness about health

and nursing practice, accountability for efficient and effective use of education resources which include

best clinical teaching practices based on research evidence. Therefore, good clinical training based on

sound nursing education is the only option to equip nurses with the current trend in nursing practice

(Ehiemere, 2019). Mellish et al (2020) emphasizes the following principles with regard to clinical nursing

training:

• Clinical training occurs in the real-life situations: it translates theory into practice.

• The student nurse is an active participant.

• It should be a small group activity. Physical limitations make the number of nurses who can be

involved at a stretch very small. It may even occur on the basis of one patient, one teacher and one

student.

• The student nurse is given the opportunity to develop self-confidence by performing under expert

guidance and supervision.

• It affords the student opportunities for observation and decision-making.

• It allows assessment of the degree to which educational objectives have been attained.

• It centres on patient/client care.

• It is an invasion of the privacy of patients and therefore can be carried out only with their consent

except in cases where there is difficulty in doing this. In this case patient’s relatives can be consulted. In

line with this, N&MCN stipulated that the ratio of registered nurse educators to students in the

classroom and in the clinical setting should be 1: 10, (Curriculum for General Nursing Education in

Nigeria, 2001).This is for efficient training and supervision.

The goals of clinical nursing training

The ultimate goal of clinical nursing education as indicated by SumariAyo (2019) is to prepare the

students to think critically, communicate accurately and perform indicated therapeutic nursing

interventions in patient care situations and exhibit the caring behaviours inherent in nursing actions.

They are also to apply an ethical perspective in clinical decision making and function effectively as a

team member within the organizational structures surrounding the delivery of patient care

Actions to ensure effective clinical nursing training

The contextual elements of clinical nursing training as identified by Iwasiw (2019) which serve as a

guide to action for the clinical teachers in nursing include the following:

1) The language of clinical teaching: The use of well worded, simple and clear language will go a long

way in helping the teacher to convey the message to the students and also make it easier for the

students to understand the topic better.

2) Clinical training is as important as the classroom teaching. Nursing is a professional practice discipline,

where clinical training provides real life experiences and opportunities for transfer of knowledge to

practice situations. Therefore, clinical training should be giving adequate time and concern.

3) Clinical education should reflect the nature of professional practice. A professional is an individual

who possesses expert knowledge and skill in a specific domain, acquired through formal education in an

institution of higher learning and through experience. The professional uses that knowledge and skill on

behalf of the society by serving specific clients. Therefore, as practice in clinical setting exposes students

to realities of professional practice that cannot be covered by a text book or a simulation, teaching

should reflect the nature of professional practice. Also clinical practice requires critical thinking and

problem solving abilities, specialized psychomotor and technological skills and a professional value

system.

4) The nursing students in the clinical areas are learners not qualified nurses. The role of the student in

nursing education should be primarily that of a learner not a qualified nurse. Students should not

practice without a supervisor.

5) Sufficient learning time should be provided before performance is evaluated. It should be known that

skill acquisition is a complex process that involves making mistakes and learning how to correct and then
prevent those mistakes in future. Therefore, clinical teachers should give adequate learning time with

ample opportunities for feedback before evaluating students’ performance summatively.

6) Clinical teaching is supported by a climate of mutual trust and respect: Another element as a guide to

action is the importance of creating and maintaining a climate of mutual trust and respect between the

staff and the students to support learning and students growth.

7) Clinical teaching and learning should focus on essential knowledge, skills and attitude. Teaching and

learning time should be used to maximum advantage by focusing most of the time and effort on the

most common practice problems that students and staff members are likely to face.

8) The espoused curriculum may not be the curriculum in- use. Argyris and Schon (2019) proposed that

human behaviour is guided by operational theories of action that operate at two levels. The first level,

espoused theory (the paper curriculum) is what individuals say that they believe and do. The other level,

theory in use (the practice theory curriculum) guides what individuals actually do in spontaneous

behaviour with others. Similarly, the espoused curriculum is the one that is used for accreditations or

state approval but the curriculum in-use is what actually happens. This disparity happens often when

clinical teachers do what seem right to them which are not in the curriculum. Incongruity between

espoused theory and theory in use can result in ineffective individual practice as well as discord within a

school system.

Factors affecting clinical nursing training

The major determinants of the effectiveness of clinical training are the context in which they occur.

According to Smedley and Penney (2019), clinical training in nursing is performed in response to the

professional, societal and educational demands using available human intelligence, physical and

financial resources as the context of the curriculum. As far as the curriculum context is different for each
nursing program, so also the practice of clinical training should differ from one nursing programme to

another. This infers that there should be differences in the factors that affect clinical training of nursing

students. This implies that some of the factors that could affect clinical training in nursing include the

curriculum philosophy, the context for clinical nursing training and resources needed for effective

clinical training in nursing. Therefore each school must make decisions that are congruent with their

planned curriculum for a successful acquisition of skill. The factors are:

1) The curriculum philosophy: The curriculum is a systematic plan of activities which is made according

to each school philosophy and mission in response to the professional, societal and educational needs.

This includes statement of belief about the goals of nursing education, the nature of teaching and

learning and the role of the teachers and learners (Iwasiw, Goldenberg, Andrusyszyn, 2019). The values

and beliefs included in a curriculum philosophy provide structure and coherence for a curriculum and

provide clear actions to be followed. Statements of curriculum are meaningless if they are contradicted

by actual nursing educational practices. Although traditionally, philosophy is viewed as essential tool in

building a curriculum, some nursing education leaders have suggested that a set of assumptions or one

or more theories could be used in planning the nursing curriculum, (Bevis, 2020). When used as a

curriculum foundation, learning theories such as behaviorism, cognitive theories etc, reflect faculty

belief about learning, teaching, student characteristics and the educational environment. Iwasiw et al

(2019) indicated that nursing theories such as Rogers’ unitary person model, Newman’s model of health

and Watson’s theory of human caring may also serve as both theoretically and philosophically according

to the context of each curriculum. Therefore, the contemporary nursing curriculum philosophies often

are a blend of philosophy, nursing theory and learning theory. The curriculum provides a framework that

shows educational and clinical activities to be followed in clinical training. Incongruity between the

curriculum and the actual activities of the school can result in ineffective individual learning/practice as

well as discord within a school system.

2) The context for clinical nursing training: This includes the medium or the actual practical application

of the training process. Those are the measures or actions involved in the clinical training. Oermann and

Gaberson (2019) asserted that every clinical teacher has a philosophical approach to clinical training

whether or not the teacher realizes it. The context determines what the teacher understands as his role,

approaches to clinical training, selection of teaching and learning activities, use of evaluation process

and relationship with learners and others in the environment. It includes also how the students play

their own roles in the teaching learning process. These beliefs serve as a guide to action and they affect

how clinical teachers practice, how students learn and how learning outcome are evaluated. Inadequacy

in the context jeopardizes the acquisition of required nursing skills.

3) Resources needed for effective clinical training in nursing. For efficient and effective clinical training

aimed at ensuring quality care, theoretical nursing taught in the classroom must be repeated and in

congruence with what the students practice in the clinical areas (Oermann and Gaberson, 2019). To

maintain this fact, there must be competent personnel in the schools and the wards to supervise and

handle the clinical aspect of nursing effectively. The resources needed are:

A) Qualified and experienced nurses: There should be qualified and experienced nurses and clinicians,

mentors, preceptors, link teachers and teacher- lecturers in the schools and hospitals or other places

where the students go for their clinical training. These nurses must be conversant with the new

innovations in nursing research, education and practice, so that they may be able to help the students

under their care. These human resources employed in clinical training of students help the students to

enhance the practical learning process and ensure production of qualitative, critical thinking and

benevolent nurses who will engage in decision making and evidence based nursing care based on

research findings.
B) Nurse educators and supervisors: These are professional nurses acting as teachers, mentors,

preceptors, clinical instructors and clinicians involved in planning, facilitating and supervising of clinical

training of nurses to ensure adequate nursing skill acquisition. It is a well known fact that teachers and

supervisors are crucial factors in students’ school achievement. Some nurse educators and researchers

like Usufu (2021), Shariff and Masoumi (2021) seem emphatic that students’ academic performance

does to a large extent depend on the quality, adequacy and dedication of teachers and their supervisors.

It is also identified that expensive laboratories, nursing equipment, costly reference libraries, superior

text books, extensive clinical experience areas and skillfully arranged courses of study are of little value

in the teaching of nursing science subjects unless they are presided over and administered by the mind

of an individual who knows and loves nursing profession and who has acquired some nursing skills and

the art of impacting this knowledge to others, (Hopkins, 2018). This clearly shows that the role of

qualified and experienced teachers and supervisors in the teaching and learning of any skill or subject

cannot be underestimated. Commenting on the need and use of professionally trained teachers and

supervisors, Akambi (2022), said that they will ensure efficiency and make sure that they impart the

right knowledge, develop the needed skills and mental faculty of the students they are teaching. He

further stated that a professionally prepared teacher can use even an inadequately structured

curriculum to build a structured programme of significant merit. Lohor (2020), cries out that in the many

states of the country, 40% and 50% of nurse educators and clinical supervisors needed are lacking. One

resultant effect in this respect is that few available ones are faced with the problems of coping with a

large class of students for the classroom work and clinical training. In a paper presented to the principals

of schools of Nursing in Nigeria, Usufu (2021) stated in line with the teachers’ factors that to some

extent, the teacher judges his/her performance from the performance of the students. Where the

students perform poorly both the students and the teachers should have cause to give serious

consideration about their teaching and learning.

C) Infrastructure/equipment in the schools and clinical settings Items or equipment used in the schools

and clinical areas are regarded as the life wire of any nursing school and for there to be a meaningful

nursing education, (Melone, 2020). There must be that conscious effort to direct sufficient resources to

such areas that will ensure drawing maximum benefit from the equipment and infrastructure available.

For standard nursing education, lack of equipment sets back students’ performance and creates a lot of

tension and anxiety on the students because of poor performance. Cannon (2018) emphasized strongly

the unavoidable needs for adequate equipment, noting that, “at all stages of skill acquisition, good

demonstration with adequate equipment is important and often a vital part of teaching in acquiring a

skill we learn by imitation”. Accordingly, Tonne (2019) observed that the most effective device for the

teaching of skill is teacher demonstration with appropriate equipment. For example, a teacher who

shows to students how to type using a computer saves time and presents these students with useful tips

more than he can give by merely talking. It is therefore, a right deduction that no nursing school can

function well without proper and adequate equipment in the school and in the clinical areas. The

schools should have adequate and up to date text books in the library which 48 will serve as reference

materials for both the teachers and the students. Knowles (2020) and the WHO (2019) indicated that

appropriate clinical learning facilities such as laboratory, library, equipment and supplies should always

be made available and maintained regularly to make learning concrete and easier to reproduce when

needed.

D) Measures /designs for teaching clinical nursing skills include: (Is this part of the resources needed or

another sub-heading?)

(i) Preparation and Planning Planning for clinical accompaniment of students is a prior activity which

should be done by involving all key players. Gerrish (2022) (in Quinn 2021) maintains that teaching in

practice placement areas requires a commitment by the teachers, collaboration between education and
service staff and staff development for teachers in their new role in relation to practice. The

accompanists and the student nurses should participate in planning and preparation for clinical

accompaniment. The key features of effective clinical education are that it is designed and conducted

according to the learner’s characteristics and the use of appropriate teaching and learning strategies.

Several factors need to be considered when drawing up a plan. According to (Quinn, 2023), the

curriculum has an influence on clinical nursing education by accommodating the essential principles and

features for an educational proposal in such a form that it is capable of effective translation into

practice. Therefore, the planning team should consider what has been described in the curriculum in

fulfilling clinical teaching and learning. The planning team includes nurse educators, clinical instructors,

preceptors, ward supervisors and nursing students. The clinical training objectives should be taken into

account when practicing. Chun-Heung and French (2019) cautioned about students spending most of

their time doing routine work and menial tasks thus wasting time for clinical learning. Nursing educators,

preceptors and other clinical supervisors should select and agree on appropriate methods and materials,

ensuring that they are available and relevant to learning outcomes. Planning should be systematic and

realistic to ensure that students know what is expected of them and when. The plan should allow for

flexibility in order to meet unforeseen eventualities. Quinn (2021) suggests that in order to select

strategies that enable deep holistic learning to take place, nurse educators and supervisors should be

aware of students’ differences, ways that keep students motivated and interested. Daft (2020) stresses

the value of maintaining a good working relationship with ward personnel, expertise like medical and

paramedical in a formal clinical education programme, so that they can be consulted when there is a

need. Division of the time available and allocation of personnel so that all students have an equal

opportunity to benefit is essential (Quinn, 2021). Specific times should be set aside when students are

released from the wards for formal activities, such as demonstrations of procedures.
(ii)Techniques/ measures used for effective clinical training in nursing One of the most important

responsibilities of a clinical teacher is selecting and giving clinical assignments that are related to desired

outcome to students. This should be appropriate to students’ levels of knowledge and skill and

challenging enough to motivate learning. Directing a learner to provide comprehensive nursing care to

one or more patients is a typical possible clinical assignment and not always the most appropriate

choice.

The techniques include:

• Giving assignment to students and correcting them

• Ongoing assessment in the clinical areas for early detection of lapses

• Proper supervision and prompt correction.

• Mentoring as students learn by imitation

• Motivation of students by encouraging their little efforts

• Evaluation to elicit learning outcome

Evaluation techniques in clinical training

Evaluation is the process of eliciting the extent to which learners have achieved the educational

objectives. It is used also for assessment of both the teacher and the students and its outcome helps

both the teacher and the students to know areas of their deficiencies and areas of strength. Evaluation

can be formative or summative. Some of the evaluation strategies in clinical nursing training according

to Oermann et al (2019) include written and oral assignments.

Written assignment: Written assignments should build on one another to progressively develop

student’s skills. It should be used to promote understanding, develop higher level thinking skills,

examine feelings, beliefs and value, develop writing skills, etc. Examples of written assignments are:

• Use of case method and case study

• Evidence- based practice papers

• Development of teaching plan and nursing care plan

• Writing journals

• Giving tests and examinations

Oral practice assessment (practicum) or clinical evaluation. This means testing the students’ ability to do

the activities which they learnt during the clinical training. It can be done formatively or summatively as

is scheduled in the school’s programme following the procedure and the schedule books. Factors

associated with students

In a study done by Baillie (2022) on the importance of showing an interest and taking initiative by

students, student nurses recognized that their own approach to placements areas affected their

learning. They also found that students prefer active participation to observation. Furthermore, they

suggested that good mentor, communication and organizational environment were good for learning.

According to Sims (2023) students get satisfaction in doing things that interest them which promote

better learning. Consequently, better learning gives higher satisfaction and this cycle continues. In a

study by German (2022), it was observed that students’ attitude towards school subjects can directly or

indirectly influence their performance in those subjects. Those that have positive attitude towards

Biology were expected to be interested in doing Biology and science like activities. This was proved to be
true from using path analytic model. He hypothesized that attitude towards Biology in schools would

influence students’ performance in biology because the students would dread the subject they dislike.

Students’ performance in nursing clinical experiences depends on whether the student likes nursing

science subjects’ classes, feels that nursing science will be useful and is not afraid to ask questions

during clinical experiences (Meloni, 2020). Osang (2022) tried to find out the relationship between

students’ self concept and performance and noted that students’ performance in nursing clinical

training depended much on what the student thought of or believed about him or herself with reference

to nursing science. This result shows that self concept is positively related to achievements by students.

Gardnerr & Supplee (2020), noted in their study that interest is a key factor for effective teaching and

learning. It has been recognized that where interest is manifested adequately, the inhibiting influence of

the limited background and ability of the student is reduced to manageable proportions. It is then

important to help students establish and develop scientific spirit and experimental attitude needed in

nursing to enhance practice, (Ricks, 2021). Ricks (2021) stated also that effective nursing science

programme makes room for students to discover solutions to problems themselves and not make them

mere speculators. Other things that influence students’ attitude and performance are students’ home

environment, background knowledge of the subject and motivation by the teachers and peers. In

planning clinical activities for the students, their learning styles should be considered to help them

participate and learn better, (Billings and Halstead, 2020).

 CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research design

The researcher will used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work. the choice

of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of

a large population from a group of individuals. The design is was suitable for the study as the study

sought to evaluating the influence of clinical experience on student nurses of Bayelsa state school of

nursing.

3.2 Sources of data collection

Data will be were collected from two main sources namely:

(i)Primary source and

(ii)Secondary source

Primary source:

These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular

purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the

researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.

Secondary source:

These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes.

Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
3.3 Population of the study ( this should be target population)

Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in

getting information on evaluating the influence of clinical experience on student nurses of Bayelsa state

school of nursing. 200 students of Bayelsa state school of nursing will be selected randomly???(Target

population is not selected randomly. It is the 133 ie the sample size) by the researcher as the population

of the study.

Sample and sampling procedure

Sample is the set people or items which constitute part of a given population sampling. Due to large size

of the target population, the researcher used the Taro Yamani formula to arrive at the sample

population of the study.

n= N

1+N(e)2

n= 200

1+200(0.05)2

= 200

1+200(0.0025)

= 200 200

1+0.5 = 1.5 = 133.

3.4 Instrument for Data Collection

The major research instrument will be used is the questionnaires. This will be was appropriately

moderated. They staff were administered with the questionnaires to complete, with or without

disclosing their identities. The questionnaire will be was designed to obtain sufficient and relevant

information from the respondents. The primary data contained information extracted from the

questionnaires in which the respondents were required to give specific answer to a question by ticking

in front of an appropriate answer and administered the same on staff of the organizations. The

questionnaires contained about 16 structured questions which were divided into sections A and B??

(your questionnaire should have 4 sections because the study has 3 objectives) .

3.5 Validation of the research instrument

The questionnaire used as the research instrument was subjected to face its validation. This research

instrument (questionnaire) adopted will be was adequately checked and validated by the supervisor.

Her his contributions and corrections will be were included into the final draft of the research

instrument used.

3.6 Method of Data Analysis

The data collected will bewas not an end in itself but it served as a means to an end. The end being the

use of the required data to understand the various situations it is with a view to making valuable

recommendations and contributions. To this end, The data collected has to be analysed for any

meaningful interpretation to come out with some results. It is for this reason that the following methods

were adopted in the research project for the analysis of the data collected. For a comprehensive analysis

of data collected, emphasis was laid on the use of absolute numbers frequencies of responses and

percentages. Answers to the research questions were provided through the comparison of the
percentage of workers response to each statement in the questionnaire related to any specified

question being considered. Frequency in this study refers to the arrangement of responses in order of

magnitude or occurrence while percentage refers to the arrangements of the responses in order of their

proportion.

The simple percentage method is believed to be straight forward easy to interpret and understand

method.

The researcher therefore chooses the simple percentage as the method to use.

The formula for percentage is shown as.

% = f/N x 100/1

Where f = frequency of respondents response

N = Total Number of response of the sample

100 = Consistency in the percentage of respondents for each item contained in questions.

PLEASE CHECK HOW OTHERS WROTE THEIRS

PLEASE WRITE THE ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

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EFFECT CORRECTIONS AND CONTINUE