EFFECT OF STUDYING LONG HOURS IN THE GRADES

OF EMILIAN NURSING STUDENTS

A Thesis Proposal Presented To The Faculty of

School of Nursing & Midwifery

In partial Fulfilment of the Requirement of the subject Nursing Research

By:

Alegria, Mark Jhenar E

Kingking, Christopher

Sherpa, Lakpa Dolma

Table Of Contents

Chapter Page

1. The Problem And Its Background

Introduction

Background

Theoretical Framework

Conceptual Framework

Statement of Problem

Null Hypothesis

Significance of study

Scope and Limitation

Definition of Terms

2. Review of Related Literature and Studies

Synthesis

3. Research Methodology

Research Design

Population and Sampling

Research Instrument

Data gathering Procedure

Statistical Treatment of data

Bibliography

Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Nursing is a profession within the healthcare sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life (Wikipedia, 2012).

The American Nurses Association (ANA) states nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations.

A nursing school is a type of educational institution, or part thereof, providing education and training to become a fully qualified nurse. The nature of nursing education and nursing qualifications varies considerably across the world (Wikipedia, 2012).

The field of nursing has been a popular and rapidly growing trend over the last decade. All over the world, there has been an increasing demand of nurses. In the same manner, there also seems to be an increasing number of students who are interested in taking nursing as their career. An article by Kelly Strommer says that every year approximately 50,000 qualified nursing applicants are turned down from American schools.

Getting through nursing school can be a very difficult task for many individuals. Linda Anne Silvestri, a nurse and author of Elsevier's Saunders NCLEX review nursing books, suggested that in a nursing program, you can expect that you will need to do a tremendous amount of reading. Your course syllabus will list the required reading and it is important to do the reading before the scheduled class so that you will be prepared for the lecture. Also, reading before class provides you with the opportunity to identify areas that you do not understand and can ask about during class.

So, the question was, how many hours does a nursing student need to allot for studies, and whether indeed it affects the academic performance of the student. Henceforth, the study was conducted to satisfy genuine interest and curiosity of the researchers about the problem or subject under inquiry.

Background

Study skills are one important factor influencing academic achievements of students (Nouhi E, 2008). This study investigates the study skills and the habits of a nursing student, particularly their hours of study and how it impacts on their academic achievements. According to Nurse Linda Anne Silvastry, a nursing student should start preparing for the exams the moment he/she starts a nursing course. Specifically, this study will benefit the students to realize the importance of allotting major hours of their day to review previously learned lectures so as to gain higher grades. This study helps the nursing students improve their academic performance, to learn difficulties of studying in certain lengths of time and to know the benefit of studying long hours.

As a student, it is very essential that one know how to allot time for studying and other recreational activities. Lex Fernandez(2010) claims that it's generally not worthwhile to study for more than two hours per day. Anything past that, and there's almost no way that you're focusing and analysing the way you need to. The researchers were seemingly interested in finding out whether in fact studying long hours affected the grades of a nursing student. Hence, the research was decided to be conducted to gratify their interest in the very matter.

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical model guiding this research was the “Adaptation Theory” by Sister Callista Roy. The researchers chose “Adaptation Theory” by Sister Callista Roy as a theoretical guide to their study as per the degree of appropriateness to the study. The basic model of this theory implies that a person is an adaptive system who uses coping skills to deal with the stressors; a failure to adapt denotes a tendency toward illness, because adaptation is necessary for healthy living.

According to Roy and Andrews (1999), adaptation is the process and outcome whereby thinking and feeling persons, as individuals or in groups, use conscious awareness and choice to create human and environmental integration.

The adaptive mechanisms are mechanisms that help a person cope mentally, physically, socially, spiritually and emotionally. The regulator subsystem responds automatically from neural system whereas cognator subsystem responds through four cognitive-emotional channels: perceptual and information processing, learning, judgement and emotion.

When applying this model to the study, a nursing student should be able to adapt well to the drastically changed studying pattern in the school of Nursing for him/her to benefit academically. When unable to adapt to the hectic studying environment and routine, the student may show maladaptation as a decline in his/her academic performance.

Likewise, according to Sister Callista Roy’s theory, there are various coping mechanisms that can help a nursing student cope mentally, physically and emotionally to the stressor, i.e., the Nursing course. For instance, the cognator subsystem specifically can respond through cognitive processes and help the student in information processing, learning, and judgements; which are all equally required for good academic performances.

Hence, the concepts of the Roy adaptation model are and consistently defined. The model is internally consistent, and has the level of complexity required making it broad in scope and generalizable for both practice and research; however once learned, the model is logical and easy to understand (Phillips, 2010)

Conceptual Framework

The following figure represents the relationship among the variables used in the current study.

Figure 1- Paradigm of the Study

The paradigm illustrates the conceptual framework of the study, for the purpose of determining the relationship between the different variables used in the study. The variables in the framework are categorized as independent and dependent variables.

The independent variables include the demographic profile of the respondents, such as the age, nationality, sex, residency and the level of nursing the respondent was enrolled in. It also includes the number of hours studied on a regular basis as well as the number of hours studied on the previous day of exams and tests.

Likewise, the dependent variable consists of academic grades of the respondents, i.e., the Nursing students in the subject Theoretical Foundations of Nursing.

Statement of Problem

This study aims to determine how studying long hours affect the grades of the students enrolled in School of Nursing in Emilio Aguinaldo College, Manila.

Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:

1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents?

a. Age

b. Sex

c. Residency

d. Year level

2. How many hours does a typical nursing student study on an average?

3. How many hours does a nursing student study before exams?

4. What is/was the average grade of the nursing student in the subject Theoretical Foundation of Nursing?

5. Is there a need for a Nursing student to allot more time for studying in order to have a good grade?

6. Is there a significant relationship between the profile and the academic performance of the respondents?

Null Hypothesis

There is no significant relationship between number of hours studied and the grades of a Nursing student.

Significance of Study

This study relates to and is useful to the following:

To the students enrolled in School of Nursing and Midwifery, at Emilio Aguinaldo College, Manila. This study will be a significant endeavour in promoting good studying habits in the students. Since the study was conducted amongst the Nursing students, this will prove to be the most advantageous to them since this study can be a source of inspiration and a guide for them to understand the value of their time and the importance of studying for maximum number of time.

To the School of Nursing and Midwifery, this study will also be beneficial when they employ effective learning in their classroom setting particularly in different concepts related to the use of effective human resource management. By understanding the needs of the students, the maximum learning ability of a student, the instructors and the administration can be assured of a competitive advantage. Moreover, this research will provide recommendations on how to evaluate the performance of a typical nursing student in accordance with their hours of studying and the ability to absorb knowledge within that hour of study.

To the parents of those students enrolled in School of Nursing and Midwifery, as they may be able to realize the pressure of their children academically. Hence, they can learn to provide their children with ample time to study as well as provide other materials so that they won’t be stressed more than they already are.

To the professors in School of Nursing and Midwifery, this study may help them to understand further the situation of their students and analyse and solve the problems about studying long hours by their students. For instance, they may learn to separate just enough lectures for the review that the students can handle and not bury them with all the knowledge in short period of time.

To the future researchers, similarly, for this would give them an idea about their problems related to the title and would aspire them to undergo further research and add or modify as per their requirement.

To all the nursing students at large, for them to know the essence of time in a student life and build a hope to guide them in utilizing every minute of their time in study which will benefit them in the future.

Scope and Limitation

This study is limited only to the nursing students of Emilio Aguinaldo College of Manila as the respondents of the survey. Majorly, it focuses on the effects of studying long hours in the grades of nursing students. The study is to be conducted among 100 students enrolled in School of Nursing and Midwifery during the time. Likewise, the study will be limited to collecting the grades of only one subject, i.e, Theoretical Foundations of Nursing which is taken in the first year of Nursing. Henceforth, all nursing students including level 4 students can take part equally because of their completion in study previously.This study is particularly done to the nursing students, hence is more applicable to their scenario. Nonetheless, the study may also be used by other students as a source of motivation in order to maximize their knowledge and in order to know the importance of studying long hours during their student life.

Definition of Terms

For a better understanding of the study, the following terms are defined below:

Effect- The essence or impact that follows something.

Nursing- The art of caring and treating a person accordingly in order to provide a good quality of life.

Nursing student- Those students enrolled in the School Of Nursing and Midwifery, who, upon the completion of the course are rewarded the degree on Bachelors Of Science in Nursing.

Grades- The numerical expression of the academic performance of student that is measured with the help of quizzes or examinations.

Theoretical Foundations of Nursing- The subject taken in the first year of the Nursing course which deals with all the basic principles and foundations, upon which the entire nursing course is based upon.

Long hours of study- Refers to the number of hours utilized in studying that is more than 5 hours a day, excluding the school hours.

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Independent Variables

* Profile of Respondents- - Age - Nationality

- Sex

- Civil Status

- Residency

- Year Level

*Number of hours typically studied per day

*Number of hours studied before exams

Dependent Variables

- Academic grades of the Nursing student in the subject Theoretical Foundations of Nursing