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“College Life Experiences of Nursing Honor Students in San Juan de Dios

Educational Foundation Inc. (College) of Batch2011-2013”

A Thesis
Presented to the Faculty of the
College of Nursing
San Juan de Dios Educational Foundation Inc.
Pasay City, Philippines

In partial fulfilment
Of 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.


Conceptual Framework

College life
experiences

Home School

Habit Formation

Daily Life

Physical Social
Psychological

• Physical • Family
Condition • Mood
• Friends
• Time • Incentive
• Classmates
Management • Ambition
• Professors
• Behavior

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 2 nd 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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