The Relationship between the Extent of Stress Effects on the Academic Performance of Benguet State University Student Nurses

Abstract

The study was conducted using the descriptive-correlational method to identify the relationship between the extent of stress effects on the academic performance of BSU student nurses, in the physiological, psychological, social, emotional, and spiritual dimensions. Specifically, it sought to determine the experiences, relations and he extent of stress effects to the respondents. Moreover, it identified the level of academic performance of student nurses as measured in terms of their grade point average; determined the relationship between the extent of stress effects on student nurses to their academic performance on each of the specified dimensions; and also, identified the extent to which stress affects the academic performance of students nurses when the following are considered; year level, gender, ethnic affiliation, religious affiliation. The data was gathered from October to November 2011. There were a total of one hundred (100) randomly selected student nurses divided equally into four year levels with twenty-five students each. Among the respondents, there were fifty (50) males and fifty (50) females; eighty-seven (87) highlanders and (13) lowlanders; and fifty (53) catholic and forty-seven (47) non catholic. The primary mechanism in gathering the data was a combination of close-ended and open-ended questionnaire. Essentially, the questions formed were related to the objectives of the study. Several sources were also utilized such as books, texts, magazines, journal article, unpublished thesis, internet sites and observations. The data gathered from the respondents were tabulated, analyzed, and subjected to statistical treatment. The following are statistical measures that were used. T-test and the weighted mean were utilized to obtain data necessary to determine the extent to which stress affects the Physiological, Psychological, Social, Emotional, Spiritual dimensions when compared according to Gender, Ethnic Affiliation, and Religious Affiliation of BSU student nurses; Two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) which was utilized to determine the extent of stress on the Physiological, Psychological, Social, Emotional, Spiritual conditions when compared to Year level; and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient to determine the extent of stress effects on BSU student nurses to their Academic Performance on the Physiological, Psychological, Social, Emotional, Spiritual dimension. The findings of the study revealed that the Effect of Stress on the physiological, psychological, social, emotional and spiritual conditions of Benguet State University Student Nurses is to a moderate extent. The level of Academic Performance of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year level Benguet State University Student Nurses is Satisfactory while the level of Academic Performance of the 4th year level is Very Satisfactory. There is a very strong correlation between the Extent of Stress Effects to the Performance of the Benguet State University Student Nurses. The 3rd year student nurses experiences the highest stress effects followed by the 1st year, 4th years and the 2nd years. The male student nurses experienced more stress effects on the social, emotional and spiritual dimensions when compared to the female respondents. On the other hand, the lowlanders experienced higher stress effects on emotional and spiritual dimensions than the highlanders. Also, the catholic respondents were shown to have higher emotional stress effects while the non-catholic student nurses experienced higher spiritual stress effects. Based on the findings of the study, the following are recommended: Student nurses should be involved in recreational activities in order to lessen stress. A further study is recommended to determine the coping mechanisms and strategies that the student nurses used to overcome stress effects. A further study to investigate the causes why third year respondents experienced the highest stress effects when compared to four year levels. A further study to determine the causes why male respondents experienced higher stress effects on the social, emotional and spiritual dimensions when compared to the female respondents. A further study to investigate why lowlander respondents were presented to be emotionally and spiritually stressed than highlander respondents. A similar study is suggested to be conducted on the other colleges of Benguet State University other than the College of Nursing, A similar study with a wide scale of respondents involving other students from the different Colleges of Nursing in the Cordillera.