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“College Life Experiences of Nursing Honor Students in San Juan de Dios Educational Foundation Inc. (College) of Batch2011-2013”
A ThesisPresented to the Faculty of the
College of NursingSan Juan de Dios Educational Foundation Inc.
Pasay City, Philippines
In partial fulfilmentOf the requirements for the degree
Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Rujae N. Baylen, et. Al
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
College life experience as they say is one of the toughest chapters of a
student’s journey. Life at college is full of crazy experiences that you are unlikely
to ever have again. With its drastic highs and dramatic lows, college is a ride
that's not always easy to handle.
A nursing student encounters complex situation and conflicts which can not
be resolved through theoretical skills and knowledge. Being a nursing student is
both an academic challenge as well as an incredible honor. You will be invited to
share some of the most intimate experiences of peoples' lives as you care for
them as patients. These experiences will enrich your life in ways you cannot
imagine.
It is a common belief that academic performance is a good indication of a
student’s true ability and achievement. Thus, academic performance becomes an
important initial step toward occupational attainment and the subsequent process
of social stratification.
Academic success comes in many forms. For most students, it's a stellar
transcript that opens doors into great jobs or great graduate schools. For others,
academic success also includes what happens outside of the classroom. With so
much going on in college, though, there are many factors that affect academic
performances of the students.
Stress, time management skills, academic competence and study
techniques are some factors that affect an individuals‘ academic performance.
One study identified the various problems of the nursing students and pointing
out that the main cause of these problems is a big amount of stress during their
life as a student. Nursing students, actually in a broad sense, all of the students
are experiencing many kind of stressors. But more likely, the nursing students
are the one who are in the center of experiencing stress. Time management skills
has been defined as a clusters of behavioral skill sets that are important in the
organization of the study. Higher academic performance may be achieved by
balancing time management and study techniques effectively. Academic
competence has been shown to affect students’ academic performance and a
student with better academic competence would probably have a better
academic performance. Efficient study techniques are also very useful to excel
in academic performance.
This research is written in such a way that it serves every student to
discover how nursing honor students achieve and maintain academic excellence
and performances despite of these factors. In this study, the researchers try to
find out the strategies being used to maintain excellent grades and student’s
performances.
The content of this research aims to improve the academic performance of
other students through setting an inspiration to the researchers and other
students by applying the techniques and strategies used by the nursing honor
students to help achieve academic recognition.
SocialPhysical
Home School
Conceptual Framework
Physical
Condition
Time
Management
Family
Friends
Classmates
Professors
Daily Life
Habit Formation
Psychological
Mood
Incentive
Ambition
Behavior
College life
experiences
ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
Statement of the Problem
This study focuses on college life experiences of nursing academic
awardees which tackles the different areas in life such as the physical,
psychological, social and spiritual. The study includes all the areas except for the
spiritual aspect. To understand more on college life experiences of these
students regarding academic excellence, there is a need to explore and further
discuss these matters.
The following questions are made by the researchers in order to answer
relevant queries of the study:
1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents
a. age
b. gender
2. What are the factors that affect the academic excellence of
the nursing student?
3. What are the factors that greatly influences the academic
excellence of these students?
4. What are the effects of these factors on the academic
performance of these students according to different areas:
Physical
physical condition
time management
Psychological
mood
incentives
ambition
behavior
Social
family
friends
classmates
professors
Review of Literature
College life experience is one of the things that students look forward to the most when
planning on attending college. When it comes to college, there are many things that you might
find different from high school, things that you might need to adjust in order that you get the most
out of your college life experience. College life is largely about productivity. In it, there is probably
some work you "ought" to be engaging in at most times of the day and evening. The only way to
accomplish it all and still have time to relax is to use your time wisely. When doing schoolwork,
think about the fastest ways you can organize your assignments to complete them with quality
work while seeking the best grades. The most successful students in college are not necessarily
those who study all the time. Rather, they're the ones who don't waste time and instead use it
efficiently.
The researchers were inspired to conduct the study about college life experiences of
particularly nursing honor students on how did they come up with a good academic performances
including their life experiences at home at the school campus. How did they adopt their own study
habits to assist them in coping up with their studies and how daily life contributes in the formation
of their study habits influenced by their physical condition, psychological, social, and spiritual
aspects?
Habit in its simplest form, is the tendency to do, think, or act as one has
done, thought, or acted in the past. It is the tendency to repeat activities of all
kinds. It is the tendency which makes one inclined to do familiar action rather
than a new one. In a broader sense, habit formation means learning. It is a
statement of the fact that conduct is modifiable and that such modification may
become permanent. Much of what is learned in school, at home and in daily life.
It is being influenced by physical, psychological, social and spiritual life of a
student. Under physical aspect, time scheduling, study corner and good physical
condition is important. Managing time is important because one maybe able to
know how much time is to be allotted in a certain task and sparing some time for
other less necessary things. One can devote more attention to his study in a
pleasant corner of his room with proper lightning and ventilation, well organized
working surroundings and others prefer a quiet environment to concentrate. The
student must also be in a good physical condition which is also much more
important; this would mean being physically healthy, which include maintaining a
healthy body, eating proper diet to provide the physiological needs of the body
and also involving oneself in recreational activities and exercises. Getting enough
rest so that one can perform task well. According to previous research individuals
who attain less sleep, when compared to those who attain more sleep, tend to be
less psychologically healthy. For instance, college students who attain less sleep
report more neuroticism (Kumar & Vaidya, 1982), anxiety (Kumar & Vaidya,
1984), worry (Kelly, 2002) and hallucinations (Soper, Kelly, & Von Bergen, 1997).
They also tend to report less creativity (Hicks, Guista, Schretlen, & Pellegrini,
1980) and lower grade-point averages (Kelly, Kelly, & Clanton, 2001). Many of
the variables associated with sleep-length are also related to satisfaction with life.
For example, previous research indicates that individuals who are less satisfied
with life report higher levels of anxiety (Headey, Kelley, & Wearing, 1993), worry,
and neuroticism (Chang, 2000).
In psychological aspect, Stress is an integral part of life, especially for a
college student. In fact, not all stress is bad. Those times when a little stress
nudges you to become more alert and aware of your surroundings, or causes
you to take more time with a course project, can be beneficial. When you
recognize that the stress is detrimental to your life, you need to take action.
Managing stress will help you cope with the daily pressures. College students,
especially freshmen, are a group particularly prone to stress (D'Zurilla & Sheedy,
1991) due to the transitional nature of college life (Towbes & Cohen, 1996). They
must adjust to being away from home for the first time, maintain a high level of
academic achievement, and adjust to a new social environment. These stressors
do not cause anxiety or tension by themselves. Instead, stress results from the
interaction between stressors and the individual's perception and reaction to
those stressors (Romano, 1992). The amount of stress experienced may be
influenced by the individual's ability to effectively cope with stressful events and
situations (D'Zurilla & Sheedy, 1991). If stress is not dealt with effectively, feelings
of loneliness and nervousness, as well as sleeplessness and excessive worrying
may result (Wright, 1967). It is important that stress intervention programs be
designed to address stress of college students. However, in order to design an
effective intervention, the stressors specific to college students must be
determined (Wright, 1967).
The dynamic relationship between the person and environment in stress
perception and reaction is especially magnified in college students. The problems
and situations encountered by college students may differ from those faced by
their nonstudent peers (Hirsch & Ellis, 1996). The environment in which college
students live is quite different, such as evaluation by superiors and striving for
goals, the continuous evaluation that college students are subjected to, such as
weekly tests and papers, is one which is not often seen by non-students (Wright,
1964). The pressure to earn good grades and to earn a degree is very high
(Hirsch & Ellis, 1996). Earning high grades is not the only source of stress for
college students. Other potential sources of stress include excessive homework,
unclear assignments, and uncomfortable classrooms (Kohn & Frazer, 1986). In
addition to academic requirements, relations with faculty members and time
pressures may also be sources of stress (Sgan-Cohen & Lowental, 1988).
Relationships with family and friends, eating and sleeping habits, and loneliness
may affect some students adversely (Wright, 1967).
Towbes and Cohen (1996) created the College Chronic Life Stress Survey in which they
focused on the frequency of chronic stress in the lives of college students. This scale contains
items that persist across time to create stress, such as interpersonal conflicts, self-esteem
problems, and money problems. They evaluated these stressors in relation to how many times a
student had to deal with them on a weekly basis. They found that in regard to chronic stress, first-
year students scored higher than other students. Similar studies have examined sources of stress
among both undergraduate (Gadzella, 1994) and graduate students (Rocha-Singh, 1994). While
many specific events and situations have been implicated as stressors for college students, more
research is needed to investigate the nature of these of these stressors for college students, and
which stressors are most prevalent in college students lives. It is unclear whether most stressors
result from interpersonal relationships or academics. Stress represents decrease motivation to
study and this will affect the concentration one can acquire to studying Mood is also said to be a
problem, mood affects behaviors toward studying.
In social aspect, a balancing act between your social life and your academic one
takes some effort and commitment, but it's worth figuring out how to do it. With a little planning,
you can enjoy both aspects of school even more than you would if you were to pursue just one at
the expense of the other. Social life also affects learning behaviors, Bandura’s social and
cognitive learning Theory posits that student operate cognitively on their social experiences,
these cognitions then influence behavior and development. The influences of behavior, individual,
cognitive, and environmental factors determine how people interact and learn from each other.
The main concepts of the social cognitive theory explain human behavior as a dynamic and
correlated interaction between person and the environment. Bandura posits that the individual
learn from their interactions and observations. The theory also states that human behavior is
affected by self efficacy beliefs through cognitive, motivational, affective and decisional
processes.
College life is transition period. Parents, friends, classmates, and
professors play a role in this transition period. Hurtado, Carter, and Spuler (1996,
p. 153) found that peer support was an important factor in making the transition
to college, although they acknowledged that some of this support might produce
negative outcomes such as the lack of good study habits. Cabrera and La Nasa
(2000, p. 7) and Hossler, Schmit, and Vesper (1999, p. 27) identify parental
encouragement as the strongest factor predicting students' planning for college.
Hurtado, Carter, and Spuler (1996, p. 153) found that college academic advisors
were important factors in facilitating students' transition to college. Social support
networks are important factors in helping students cope with the transition to
college (Kenny & Stryker, 1996; Hays & Oxley, 1986; Phinney & Haas, 2003).
Kenny and Stryker (1996, p. 655) conclude that white students relied more on
college peers while minority students depended more on family for social
support. Hays and Oxley (1986, p. 311) discovered that during the first year of
college the social networks of freshmen who lived in residence halls and those
who lived at home with their parents became more similar. Counselors,
admission representatives, teachers, and family members assist students in the
transition process. Kim and Schneider (2005, p. 1181) reveal that parental
support, which is viewed as a form of social capital, eases the transition to
college. Students' social relationships with their parents and others result in a
series of obligations and expectations or social norms which influence their
attitudes and behaviors about college (Bourdieu, 1986; Coleman, 1988). Kelly,
Kendrick, Newgent, and Lucas (2007, p. 1032) advocate that transitional
programs begin while students are in high school so they have time to develop
study, time management, and coping skills that are necessary for college
success, particularly during the first year. The ability to cope with academic
demands may determine how well students cope with the first-year transition.
How well they cope with academic demands may depend on a number of
psychosocial variables. A social cognitive model has identified several
psychosocial constructs for understanding adjustment in college, which include
personality traits, perception of environmental support and availability of
resources, goals and goal-directed activity, outcome expectations, and self-
efficacy (Lent, 2004; Lent & Brown, 2006).
According to the social cognitive model, personality domains of
neuroticism, conscientiousness, and extraversion are important to college
adjustment, and these have been shown to be related to adjustment measures
during college (Wintre & Sugar, 2000). High levels of extraversion facilitate the
transition to college life because of increased social integration and optimism. In
contrast, high levels of neuroticism increase the risk for a stressful transition.
High levels of conscientiousness increase chances of a successful transition as a
result of improved coping, maintenance of schedules, and keeping up with
academic demands.
In the College Life Study conducted by Amelia M. Arria, Ph.D. et al aims to
increase knowledge of a broad range of health-related behaviors of college
students, including illicit drug use, problematic drinking, nonmedical use of
prescription drugs, nutritional habits, physical activity, health care utilization, and
involvement in high-risk behaviors, such as drunk driving, risky sex, and violence.
The study's broad focus was to fill large gaps in knowledge concerning the
health needs of college students and provide information that can guide the
development of needed interventions. Outcomes of primary interest include
academic performance, college graduation, physical and mental health, progress
toward career goals, and acquisition of other salient developmental milestones of
young adulthood. The results will be useful for university administrators, social
science researchers, and health professionals dealing with college students and
other young adults, and prevention specialists.
The present study focuses on the aspects of college life experiences
specifically physical, social and psychological that can influence the academic
performances of honor students. The result of the study will benefit the nursing
students of san Juan de Dios educational Foundation, College and can serve as
a reference for future studies.
Definition of Terms
> College Life Experience – Events that in life of a college nursing student
encounter everyday which encompasses the different aspects such as physical,
psychological and social.
> Academic Awardees – Nursing students of San Juan de Dios Educational
Foundation Inc. batches 2011-2013 that is set as the participants of the study
who passed the qualities and achieved exemplary academic perfomance.
> Academic Excellence – The performance of the students who excel and
achieves a grade not less than 85% each subject.
> Social – Refers to the factors which can influence the social aspect of a
person.
> Psychological – Refers to the factors which can influence the psychological
aspect of a person.
> Physical - Refers to the factors which can influence the physical aspect of a
person.
> Habitual Formation – Configuration of habits in daily life.
Chapter 2
METHOD OF THE STUDY
Phenomenological and associated approaches can be applied to single
cases or to serendipitous or deliberately selected samples. While single-case
studies are able to identify issues which illustrate discrepancies and system
failures - and to illuminate or draw attention to ‘different’ situations - positive
inferences are less easy to make without a small sample of participants. In
multiple participant research, the strength of inference which can be made
increases rapidly once factors start to recur with more than one participant. In
this respect it is important to distinguish between statistical and qualitative
validity: phenomenological research can be robust in indicating the presence of
factors and their effects in individual cases, but must be tentative in suggesting
their extent in relation to the population from which the participants or cases were
drawn.
A variety of methods can be used in phenomenologically-based research,
including interviews, conversations, participant observation, action research,
focus meetings and analysis of personal texts. If there is a general principle
involved it is that of minimum structure and maximum depth, in practice
constrained by time and opportunities to strike a balance between keeping a
focus on the research issues and avoiding undue influence by the researcher.
The establishment of a good level of rapport and empathy is critical to gaining
depth of information, particularly where investigating issues where the participant
has a strong personal stake.
The phenomenological method is the direct methodological implication of
the paradoxical principle of change, and it is equally paradoxical. When a
researcher practices this method, the researcher is open in receiving whatever
and however the participant shows himself, both verbally and nonverbally. This
receptivity results from the genuine curiosity about how the participant lives now
and has previously lived through time and circumstances. On the other hand, the
researcher is not a “blank sheet” upon which any and every revelation makes an
impression—that would be a rather sterile phenomenalism, that is, a descriptive
account devoid of understanding. Rather, phenomenology involves logos, an
understanding of what reveals itself which draws on a theoretical framework.
In this study the method that we will be using is to identify all the nursing
honor students together with their general average of school year 2009-2010 of
SJDEFI specifically the first year up to third year students, which in our case, the
present students of second year to fourth year of school year 2010-2011 of
SJDEFI, with the help of the College Registrar. After identifying those students
and their general average last year, we will also be asking for their schedule and
also their co-curricular activities. If their schedule is compatible with our schedule
then we are going to proceed to make a guide questions for the interview proper
but in case that the schedules didn’t match, we will going to ask permission from
the nursing department to excuse them from their classes for at least 30 minutes
of their time. When everything is set, we are going to start the actual interview.
Participants
According to Hycner (1999, p. 156) “the phenomenon dictates the method
(not vice-versa) including even the type of participants.” We chose purposive
sampling, considered by Welman and Kruger (1999) as the most important kind
of non-probability sampling, to identify the primary participants. We selected the
sample based on our judgement and the purpose of the research, looking for
those who have had experiences relating to the phenomenon to be researched.
We made use of a letter to the office of College Registrar in SJDEFI, to identify
the lists of nursing honor students, who are responsible for releasing of transcript
of records.
The honor students of the 2nd year, 3rd year and 4th year students of San
Juan de Dios Educational Foundation Inc. Batch 2010-2011 are allowed to be the
participants of the research study. They should have a general average grade of
at least 85% and above, a nursing student of the said institution or total
population=n; since, we didn’t know yet the set of honor students last year.
Setting
This study is mainly set in San Juan de Dios Educational
Foundation Inc.(College). Built last 1913 as School of Nursing. It also
gained a reputation as one the best in the country during pre-world war
period. Last 1991 the institution became an Educational Foundation and
they decided to build the college building beside the hospital located at
Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City. At this present time the college offers four
courses, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Bachelor of Science in Physical
Therapy, Bachelor of Laboratory and Medical Sciences. The college now
is compose of roughly 500-800 students.
This study going to use a non-structural interview, with regards to
this the interview in going to happen in one of the room of the college
without any person but the interviewee itself and the respondent. If by any
chance the researchers was not able to conduct the interview in a room,
the interview will happen in the school grounds that is comfortable and
secure enough for both the interviewee and respondent.
Measures
The topic research discussed is about “College Life Experiences of the
nursing honor students of SJDEFI. This study is to be conducted to 20 BSN
honor students class 2011-2013 who are strained to ensure that all of them meet
the desired qualities needed to belong to the participant. The straining of all the
student will begin by identifying individuals who excel in academics namely NCM
subjects. The student who are eligible to participate are those who score grades
not less than 85 in all the subjects and are able to retain this grade during every
semester that pass. This research will utilize every nursing student from 2nd year
to 4th year that can pass the straining process. To eliminate any biases the
researcher will need to obtain a hard copy of the participants grade from the
registrar office to ensure that the respondents selected are eligible in
participating in this study.
Tool that the researchers will going to utilize is the non-structural type of
interview. Non-structural Interview is meant as the spontaneous type interview
wherein the respondents have the freedom of answering questions being asked.
The researchers only guides and suggests ideas. This study will be conducted by
the researcher on a one on one interview, each participant will be solely
interviewed to ensure that his answers will not be altered by any external ideation
of friends and colleagues. The non-structural interview will be guided by a set of
30 questions formulated by the researchers which is based on the physical,
psychological, social and spiritual being of the participant. The interview is
conducted via a question and answer basis which can be elaborated through a
series of follow up questions to further understand the answer of the interviewee.
Sampling Technique is the means of getting a number or a part which is
taken as representative of the whole. There are two types of sampling
techniques: the probability sampling and the non-probability sampling. The
researchers will use probability sampling which utilizes randomization and
selection of the participants by chance.
Procedure
Actual Procedure
This research will be conducted at the grounds of San Juan de Dios
College. Before the actual procedure, after obtaining the names of the students
eligible to participate in these research, the researchers will first obtain the
schedule of these participants and inform them beforehand that they are selected
to be the respondents and that they will be scheduled on their free time and day,
this is done to inform them of the exact time and day they have to be present for
the interview. During the scheduled day of interview of the chosen participants,
the researchers will first ensure that there are nobody present to hear the actual
conversation between the participant and the interviewer. After ensuring that
there are nobody presents to hear the conversation the interview will begin. The
interview will start with the usual introduction phase between the interviewer and
the participant which is done by telling short information about oneself
spearheaded by the interviewer, after the introduction phase the working phase
will start. The working phase is done in a question and answer basis guided by a
set of questions formulated by the researchers; these can be interrupted by a
series of follow up questions about the answer of the participant to obtain specific
information about them. The guide questions is formulated before any actual
procedure is done, these set of questions will be the permanent guide which will
be used for every interview to have an equal basis for all the participants. After
the interview of all the candidates the results will be collected by the researchers.
They will then collate all the major factors mentioned by everyone of them and
these factors will be presented and distributed to benefit the students of San
Juan de Dios College to improve their academic performance focused more on
NCM subjects.
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