Factors associated with academic performance in nursing students

Abstract

The objective of this article is to characterize the factors that influence academic results in nursing students. It was a field research, quantitative and correlational level, applied to a sample selected at convenience, of 197 students from the 2nd to the 10th semester of the Nursing program of the University of Santander, Cúcuta campus. We worked based on 3 dimensions for the variable of academic performance factors: sociodemographic factors, cognitive factors, and psychological factors. The collection technique used was the survey and the instrument a 26-item questionnaire validated by expert judgments, with the reliability of Cronbach's alpha of 0.7583. Descriptive and inferential statistics were the means for data processing, through Pearson's correlation coefficient. Regarding the sociodemographic factors that influence performance, it was found that 92.57% of the students are economically dependent and that the search for a better quality of life is an academic incentive for performance. It was possible to identify those cognitive factors such as concentration which are relevant for 18.8% and retention for 36.5%. Psychological factors are the most important, both family support and teamwork for 73.1% of students. The isolation of a social circle exerts low academic performance for 48.7% of the students. The correlational study showed that the variable of real impact on performance is motivation, with an r of 0.938175561 and an r² of 0.880173384, the cognitive aspects being inconclusive, although with a positive but low correlation. Regarding marital status, it seems to affect student performance and could be explained from the family occupations that this status implies.