Factors That Influence the Academic Performance of Nursing Students

Factors That Influence the Academic Performance of Nursing Students

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Academic performance according to the Cambridge university reporter (2003) is frequently defined in terms of examination performance. Mac-farlance (2002) defined academic performance as the ability of the student to cope with their studies as well as how various tasks assigned to them by their instructors are accomplished, it includes the ability to study and remember facts and to be able to express such knowledge gained either verbally or in writing (Mac-farlace 2002). Students, academic gain and learning performance are affected by numerous factors including gender, age, parental social-economic status, medium of teaching, the workload of course of study, student-teacher relationship, school background, academic environment, teaching aids and infrastructures e.t.c.

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

A major challenge facing higher education institutions around the world is how to achieve a quality outcome for students in an increasingly globalized and competitive environment (Harvey and Kamvounias 2008). Education is a reciprocal process, during which the learners acquire knowledge, ability and self-thought (University of Wisconsin 2001). Nursing education is designed to educate and train nursing students to become competent and qualified professional Nurses (Mellish, Brink and Paton 2009). To provide skilled nursing care, professional Nurses must be educated and trained to make certain skills and be knowledgeable about the science of nursing. (Mellish et al., 2009.) According to Leufer (2007), nursing student needs the appropriate knowledge and skill to enable them to deliver safe and competent care to their patient, according to Mellish et al., (2009) students enter the nursing programmes with different expectations of what is to be learnt, different intellectual skills, types and level of motivation and different interest. Furthermore, professional Nurses can also come from different cultures, backgrounds, consequently, professional Nurse education, who are responsible for educating and training these students have a challenging task. Many researchers conducted detailed studies on factors contributing to student performance at different study levels. Geiser and Santelices (2007), Acato (2006) and Swart (1999) all argue that admission points that are a reflection of the previous performance influence future academic performance. Graetz (1995) said that one’s educational success depends very strongly on the social-economic status of the parents. Considine and Zappala (2002) argue that families where the parent is advantaged socially, educationally, and economically foster a high level of achievement in their children, this is because students from the high social-economic background are well exposed to scholastic materials which aid their intelligence. Sentanu (2003), Kwesigh (2002) and Portes and Macleod (1996) as cited in Cosidine and Zappla (2002) all argue that type of school a child attends influences academic achievement. Mr Mabuda, a director in nursing, states that nursing as a profession is still faced with several challenges which range from education and training, coaching and mentoring, limited facilities for clinical placement of students and the nursing shortage (professional Nurses update September 2008), these challenges inevitably influence the academic performance of students and ultimately threaten the nursing profession. The typical learning environment comprises of the number of students in the classroom, the academic environment, teaching strategies and the perception of the impact of group size on the learning experience (Leufer 2007) the learning environment, plays an important role in captivating the student interest and in maintaining it. It is therefore important to consider how nursing students experience learning in a large class environment (leufer 2007) this would provide information such as:

• Are students distracted by such a large number

• Do students feel assertive enough to interact or ask questions.

Large group learning suggests that there is a relationship between class size and participation level, which then affect the learning experience of the student (Leufer 2007). Furthermore, the recruitment of more students without providing adequate infrastructure, many logistical problems have been encountered, for example, inadequate sound system, control of attendance, ventilation increasing noise level, these problems create further problems such as difficulty in managing the group which results in late commencing of lecture. According to Leufer (2007), all these has an impact on the academic performance of students. Motivation plays a fundamental role in learning (Glynn, Anltman and Owen 2005) increase in enthusiasm and motivation which may result in better academic performance, similarly, the lack of inspiration would result in a lack of motivation, resulting in poor performance outcome (Leufer 2007). Baybel et al.(2005) state that many factors adversely affect nursing educational performance like inadequate infrastructure, inefficient use of technologies and educational techniques, student teachers relationships.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

The academic performance which is measured by the examination results is one of the major goals of a school, Hoyle (1986) argued that schools are established to impart knowledge and skills to those who go through then and behind all this is the idea of enhancing good academic performance. It has been noted that while some students perform highly well, others do not perform well, the concern is based on those who do not perform well because if this poor performance goes unchecked the reputation of the nursing science department in Delta State University will be lost. It is not yet known why some students fail to attain the standard expected of them, there is a lack of sufficient research in the case of nursing students in Delta State University as to what factors affect the academic performance of the student. This research will therefore help to establish the factors affecting the academic performance of undergraduate students of the nursing science department in Delta State University.