Determinants of Academic Performance and Achievements among
Nursing Students
Justy Joy1, Angela Gnanadurai2, Sheeja Sebastian3, Diya Raju4, Akhila P.S.5, Alen Rose6
1Assistant Professor, OBG Department, Jubilee Mission College of Nursing, Thrissur.
2Principal, Jubilee Mission College of Nursing, Thrissur.
3Associate Professor, Medical Surgical Nursing Department, Jubilee Mission College of Nursing, Thrissur.
4,5,6Fourth Year B.Sc. Nursing Students of Jubilee Mission College of Nursing, Thrissur.
*Corresponding Author E-mail: sheejasebastianjmconj@gmail.com
ABSTRACT:
Academic performance is a main aspect of education, especially in nursing students. Academic achievement is associated with assessment of students ’ability to manage their study load and manage using study material in the curriculum. This study aimed to assess assess the determinants of academic performance and achievement among nursing students in selected nursing college. Methodology: Descriptive research design was used in the study and conducted among 130 BSc Nursing students of Jubilee Mission college of Nursing. The samples were selected using simple random sampling. A self structured questionnaire was used to collect academic performance and also to assess the determinants of academic performance among nursing students under 12 domains with 36 items. Results: In sociodemographic variable 36.4% (47) studying in IV semester, 31.4% (41) studying in V semester and 32.1% (42) studing in IV year BSc Nursing. 98 (76 %) were belongs to age group of 19-22 years and 32 (24%) belongs to age group of 22-24 years. 28 (21.6.4%) staying in own home and majority 102 (78.4%) staying in hostel. Nearly half 67 (51.5%) of the students have 2-4 members in their family. The study revealed that in determinants of academic performance 39 (30%) showed high influence, 78 (60%) showed moderate influence and 13 (10%) showed low influence. Moreover, personal conditions have the highest influence on academic performance with mean 6.65 and study habits have effect on academic performance with mean 6.35 and the least affected determinant is lecture related aspect and activity and service-related aspects (mean 5.79). In academic achievement the majority of them 88 (67%) got first class, 40 (31%) got distinction and 2 (2%) got second class. There was significant (p =0.00) association between factors affecting academic performance and academic achievements. Conclusion: The study was concluded that all the determinants of academic performance have significant influence on academic achievements of students, so various measures to support the students need to be taken to tackle it.
KEYWORDS: Determinants, Academic performance, Academic achievement, Nursing students.
INTRODUCTION:
Education is a consistently important issue that include essential skills, abilities, and knowledge that help to improve the overall growth, progress and development of all individuals, communities and nations. Any educated person is eager for success and achievement to accomplish his desired goals and objectives. When educating nursing students, they need a balance between the knowledge, theories which are obtained in the classroom, applying and transferring these theories in the clinical setting and dealing with the real situations.The success of educational institution is measured by the academic performance of students meet the standard set out1.
Academic performance is a main aspect of education, especially in nursing students.2 Good grade depending on how students deal with their studies, how they cope with different given tasks by teachers in a fixed duration of program course and understand the impact of their course on their academic performance. There are numerous factors, which may encourage or hamper the students' learning style and intellectual performance.3
Academic achievement is associated with assessment of students ability to manage their study load and manage using study material in the curriculum. Students' academic success depends on active involvement of them in the learning process,getting the highest degrees, and promoting good tasks in a particular field. In this current study, the academic achievement of students is measured with a student’s grade point average.
Academic achievement is an important dimension for students. It is essential for educational institutions to assist students to develop emotionally as well as academically. Academic success is important because it is strongly linked to positive outcomes as the nursing students who are academically successful are more likely to be employed with more opportunities for promotion in their future work. Self-management skills have been proven to influence self-efficacy, which in turn highly influences academic achievement.4
Nursing students need good preparation for the rapid changes and complexity of the health care demands.In order to meet the needs of the population and meet the future demands of this generation and other generations that follow, every nurse must be successful in their education, close the gap between the supply and demand, and avoid any academic failure. By identifying effective study strategies, educational institutions can tailor their teaching methods and support systems to better equip students for success.5
In many previous studies they cleared the effect of some of these factors on the student's academic performance.6 Therefore, the present study will assess all of the factors which affect students' academic performance and its relation to their academic achievements.
A descriptive study to assess the determinants of academic performance and achievement among nursing students in selected nursing college.
· To assess the determinants of academic performance among nursing students.
· To assess the academic achievements of nursing students
· To associate the determinants of academic performance with academic achievements.
· To associate the determinants of academic performance with selected socio-demographic and academic data variable
Determinants: refers to a factor which decisively affects the outcome .
Academic performance: refers to students learning across various academic subjects, which is assessed by formative and summative assessments.
Achievements: refers to the previous year University mark achieved by the student
H1: There is significant association between determinants of academic performance and academic achievements.
H2: There is significant association between determinants of academic performance with selected socio-demographic and academic data variable
Research approach: Quantitative research approach
Research design: Descriptive cross sectional research design
Setting: Jubilee Mission college of Nursing, Thrissur, Kerala with annual intake of 60 BSc Nursing students
Population: BSc nursing students
Sample and sample size: 4th semester, 5th semester, and 4th year BSc nursing students, 130 students
Sampling techniques: Simple random sampling technique
Sampling criteria:
The samples were selected with following inclusion and exclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria:
· Students who are willing to participate.
· Students who attended university exams and whose results are published.
Exclusion criteria:
· Students who are not willing to participate.
Two tools were used for conducting present study.
It consist of two parts:
Part A:
A questionnaire to assess the sociodemographic and academic data variables which consist of items including age, gender, year of study, place of stay, number of family members, family members working in nursing profession, service activities during studying.
Part B:
A questionnaire to assess the academic achievements of nursing students in their University examination .
A self-structured questionnaire to assess the determinants of academic performance among nursing students consisting of 12 domains with 36 items in a 3 point likert scale.
|
Sl. No |
Domains |
No of questions |
|
1 |
Personal condition-Physical |
3 |
|
2 |
Personal condition- Psychological |
3 |
|
3 |
Study habits |
3 |
|
4 |
Home related aspects |
3 |
|
5 |
Learning environment related aspect |
3 |
|
6 |
Lecturer-related aspect |
3 |
|
7 |
Educational curricula-related aspect |
3 |
|
8 |
Hospital related aspect |
3 |
|
9 |
Evaluation of student -related aspect |
3 |
|
10 |
Relation between students and staff- related aspect |
3 |
|
11 |
Relation between student and their colleagues -relate aspect |
3 |
|
12 |
Activities and services -related aspects |
3 |
RESULTS:
Section 1 : Description of socio demographic and academic data of nursing students
Figure 1 : Percentage of year of study of nursing students N=130 Figure 2 : Percentage of age of nursing students N=130
Figure 3: Frequency and percentage distribution table of determinants affecting academic performance N=130
Table 1: Frequency and percentage distribution table of academic achievements N=130
|
Levels of academic achievements |
Frequency |
Percentage |
|
Distinction |
40 |
31% |
|
First class |
88 |
67% |
|
Second class |
2 |
2% |
|
Fail |
0 |
0 |
Table 2: Frequency and percentage distribution of determinants affecting academic performance based on different domains. N=130
|
Sl. No |
Domains |
Low |
Moderate |
High |
Mean |
SD |
|||
|
F |
% |
F |
% |
F |
% |
||||
|
1 |
Personal condition-Physical |
20 |
15.38 |
65 |
50 |
45 |
34.61 |
6.39 |
2.284 |
|
2 |
Personal condition- Psychological |
18 |
13.85 |
76 |
58.46 |
36 |
27.69 |
6.35 |
1.99 |
|
3 |
Study habits |
30 |
23.08 |
64 |
49.23 |
36 |
27.69 |
5.91 |
2.301 |
|
4 |
Home related aspects |
23 |
17.69 |
75 |
57.69 |
32 |
24.61 |
6.02 |
2.226 |
|
5 |
Learning environment related aspect |
25 |
19.23 |
84 |
64.61 |
21 |
16.15 |
5.79 |
1.912 |
|
6 |
Lecturer-related aspect |
13 |
10 |
90 |
69.23 |
27 |
20.77 |
6.14 |
1.972 |
|
7 |
Educational curricula-related aspect |
20 |
15.38 |
65 |
50 |
45 |
34.61 |
6.39 |
2.284 |
|
8 |
Hospital related aspect |
20 |
15.38 |
77 |
59.23 |
33 |
25.38 |
5.95 |
2.079 |
|
9 |
Evaluation of student -related aspect |
19 |
14.61 |
88 |
67.69 |
23 |
17.69 |
5.82 |
1.859 |
|
10 |
Relation between students and staff related aspect |
25 |
19.23 |
77 |
59.23 |
28 |
21.54 |
5.84 |
2.057 |
|
11 |
Relation between student and their colleagues -relate aspect |
22 |
16.92 |
77 |
59.23 |
30 |
23.08 |
5.84 |
2.090 |
|
12 |
Activities and services -related aspects |
24 |
18.46 |
78 |
60 |
28 |
21.54 |
5.79 |
2.052 |
Figure 4 : Determinants of academic performance on different domains N=130
Table 4 : Chi square, degree of freedom and p value association of determinants of academic performance and academic achievement
|
Academic determinants |
Academic achievement grade |
ϰ2 |
df |
p |
|||||
|
Distinction |
First class |
Second class |
|||||||
|
No |
% |
No |
% |
No |
% |
||||
|
Low |
2 |
3 |
9 |
6.9 |
1 |
0.8 |
32.84 |
4 |
0.000** |
|
Medium |
26 |
20 |
53 |
41 |
1 |
0.8 |
|||
|
High |
12 |
9 |
26 |
20 |
1 |
0.8 |
|||
***-Highly significant (p<0.001)
Table 5 showing Chi square, df, p -value of association determinants of academic performance with selected socio-demographic and academic variable
|
Socio-demographic and academic variable |
Determinants of academic achievements |
ϰ2 |
df |
p |
|||||
|
Low |
Moderate |
High |
|||||||
|
No |
% |
No |
% |
No |
% |
||||
|
Age |
|||||||||
|
19-21 years |
8 |
6 |
57 |
43 |
28 |
22 |
38.4 |
2 |
0.012* |
|
22-23 years |
1 |
1 |
19 |
15 |
17 |
13 |
|||
|
Year of study |
|||||||||
|
4th semester |
5 |
4 |
22 |
17 |
19 |
15 |
26.49 |
4 |
0.009*
|
|
5th semester |
3 |
2 |
38 |
29 |
5 |
4 |
|||
|
4th year |
1 |
1 |
19 |
15 |
17 |
13 |
|||
|
Number of family members |
|||||||||
|
2-4 |
7 |
5 |
39 |
31 |
21 |
16 |
17.18 |
2 |
0.046* |
|
5-9 |
3 |
2 |
42 |
32 |
18 |
14 |
|||
** Significant at 95% CI
DISCUSSION:
1. To assess the determinants of academic performance among nursing students:
The study revealed that in determinants of academic performance 39(30%) showed high influence, 78(60%) showed moderate influence and 13(10%)showed low influence. Moreover, personal conditions have the highest influence on academic performance with mean 6.65 and study habits have effect on academic performance with mean 6.35 and the least affected determinant is lecture related aspect and activity and service related aspects( mean 5.79).
A quantitative and correlational research study conducted to assess the factors affecting academic performance and its correlation with academic performance in 2019 with 180 GNM students studying Apollo school of nursing New Delhi.Total enumerative sampling technique was used. Findings reveal that student-related factors (mean = 22.01) had a very high impact on academic performance of nursing students whereas family related factors (mean =10.34) had least impact on academic performance. The study revealed that student- related factors play a crucial role and had a positive influence on the academic performance among nursing students.1
2. To assess the academic achievements of nursing students
In academic achievement the majority of them 88(67%)got first class ,40 (31%)got distinction and 2(2%) got second class.
3. To associate the determinants of academic performance with academic achievements.
There was significant (p =0.00) association between factors affecting academic performance and academic achievements. Hence H1 was accepted.
4. To associate the determinants of academic performance with selected socio-demographic and academic data variable
The study showed there was a significant (p=0.000) association between age, year of study and number of family members with determinands of academic performance. H2 is accepted.
A Descriptive study was done in 2022 with 140 nursing students to assess the factors affecting academic performance among nursing students and their relation to an academic achievement .Simple random sampling method used to collect data.The data were collected using self reporting questionnaires. Results showed that the activity and services-related aspect dimension was the highest mean (34.2±6.71), followed by the relation between the students and staff-related aspect (33.29±3.38), while the personal condition factors was the lowest mean (8.72±1.8).2
The present study was conducted to assess the determinants of academic performance and achievement among nursing students. The study revealed that majority showed 78(60%) moderate influence on determinants of academic performance. Moreover, personal conditions have the highest influence on academic performance and the least affected determinant is lecture related aspect. In academic achievement the majority of them 88(67%) got first class. Finally, it was concluded that all the determinants of academic performance have significant influence on academic achievements of students ,so various measures need to be taken to tackle it. The majority of the students had favorable attitude towards nursing profession and the curriculum contain measures to improve the student’s attitude towards nursing profession.7
On the basis of the study ,certain suggestions are given for further recommendations:
1. A similar study can be replicated with a larger sample size.
2. A followup study can be conducted to assess the association between sociodemographic data variables and determinants of academic performance in a larger population.
3. A further study can be conducted to assess the correlation between student study behaviour inventory and academic achievements.
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Received on 23.08.2025 Revised on 13.09.2025 Accepted on 01.10.2025 Published on 23.02.2026 Available online from February 25, 2026 Int. J. Nursing Education and Research. 2026;14(1):26-30. DOI: 10.52711/2454-2660.2026.00005 ©A and V Publications All right reserved
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