Perception of Nursing students towards their Academic and Clinical Learning Environment

Abstract

Educational environment is one of the most important factor in determining the success of an effective curriculum and subsequently the students’ academic success. Learning environment in nursing has been defined as everything that is happening in the classroom and clinical.1 The present study was done to assess the perception of nursing students towards their academic and clinical learning environment with the objective to determine the perception of nursing students towards academic and clinical learning environment and also to find out association of socio-demographic variables with their academic and clinical learning environment. The sample was 120 nursing students studying in different courses of nursing and selected using Nonrandom quota sampling and complete enumerative sampling. The design used for the study was descriptive cross sectional design using quantitative approach. The data collection methods were Self report method. Standardized tools were used for the study. The perception of nursing students towards their educational environment was measured by using Dundee Ready Education Environment measure (DREEM) and Clinical Learning Environment Inventory (CLEI). The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study revealed that majority (65.83%) had a more positive than negative perception about their academic learning environment and 32.5% of the students had an excellent perception about their academic learning environment. The students perceived their clinical learning environment positively with sub-scores being high in personalization (Mean-24.68, SD-4.58) and satisfaction (Mean-24.11, SD- 5.29) . However, the student involvement in clinical learning environment had the lowest mean score (Mean-21.70, SD-3.16) suggesting the need for enhancing the student involvement in the selection and utilization of learning experiences in the clinical learning environment. It was also noted that there is statistically significant correlation between the perception of academic and clinical learning environment (p=0.000). The present study revealed that there is a significant association between perception of teaching/learning environment and year of study. There is also an association between year of study of BSc (N) course and all the domains of CLEI.