[Nursing and Midwifery students' approaches to study and learning in AJUMS]

ABSTRACT

Utilizing appropriate approaches to study and learning can be improved student academic performance. This study was designed to investigate the study and learning approaches used by of Nursing and Midwifery students in AJUMS. This cross-sectional study was carried out on 165 of Nursing and Midwifery students in 2010. The Approaches to Study Skills Inventory for Students [ASSIST] questionnaire was administered. The questionnaire includes 52 questions that assessed the study of different methods of deep, strategic and surface approaches. Questionnaire content validity was confirmed by experts and its reliability with Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the three deep approach, strategic and surface was calculated 0.76, 0.85 and 0.64, respectively. Data was analysed by SPSS-15 software and descriptive and analytical chi square test and Pearson correlation coefficient. The frequency of deep, strategies and surface approaches of nursing students was 28.6%, 46.4% and 25.0% respectively. The figures for midwifery students were 30.9%, 49.4% and 19.8% respectively [P=0.721]. Between GPA, sex and Duration of study in universities and students' study approaches differences were not statistically significant. The results showed that students mostly used strategic and deep approaches. The rate of such study approaches will change the way students tend to use deep approaches to increase and the strategic approaches to decrease. Between nursing and midwifery students' study approaches in utilizing of deep and strategic approaches no significant difference was found, but nursing students, mostly used surface approach: