Quality of life and academic performance of University of the Free State first-year Health Sciences students

["Quality of life","Academic performance","First-year students","Residences (on campus, off campus)","South Africa","Dissertation (M.HPE. (Health Professions Education))--University of the Free State, 2019","Health sciences students (medical, nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, optometry, dietetics)"]

Mostert, Arnelle ; ["Van der Merwe, L. J.","Jama, M. P."]

University of the Free State

Others  :  http://scholar.ufs.ac.za/xmlui/bitstream/11660/9834/1/MostertA.pdf

瑞士|英语

来源: University of Iowa

【 摘 要 】

An in-depth study was carried out to investigate the quality of life of first-year healthsciences students and to determine the correlation between quality of life and academicperformance. The results of this study could be used to address challenges related to qualityof life and academic performance in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of theFree State (UFS) in South Africa.A few studies have been performed internationally (outside South Africa) to evaluate qualityof life in certain health sciences (mainly medical and nursing) students. A direct relationshipbetween the quality of life and academic performance of preclinical medical students (firstthree study years) was found in a study performed in Saudi Arabia.First-year students, in general, are a population that faces physical health, psychologicaland social challenges, which are caused by the transition from high school to universitylearning, and these students need to learn how to balance academic workload and theirpersonal lives. No studies have been done at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the UFS toinvestigate the quality of life of first-year health sciences students using the WHOQOL-BREFquestionnaire. A few studies have been conducted outside South Africa to evaluatedifferences in the quality of life of students who reside in either on-campus or off-campusaccommodation, but not at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the UFS.The problem that was addressed by this study is the lack of information regarding thequality of life of first-year students enrolled in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the UFS.Diverse quality of life factors may impact their academic performance.The aim of the study was to measure quality of life by means of the WHOQOL-BREFquestionnaire and to determine the correlation of quality of life scores with the academicperformance of UFS first-year health sciences students.This research study conducted a quantitative descriptive cross-sectional design. A surveywas used to collect the data by means of a questionnaire. The research methods compriseda literature study, completion of the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire, as well as gatheringdemographic and academic performance information about the respondents.The quality of life of students in the various health sciences disciplines, who reside in eitheron-campus and off-campus residences, was measured and the correlation between theirquality of life and academic performance was determined. The study revealed that theoverall quality of life and health of students at the Faculty of Health Sciences, UFS, wasgood. The quality of life domain score order varied in the schools and academic programmesof the Faculty of Health Sciences, for on-campus and off-campus students and studentswho had lived in either urban or non-urban (rural) areas before attending university. The10 most prominent facets of the four quality of life domains were the following: sleep andrest; energy and fatigue; work capacity; thinking, learning, memory and concentration;negative feelings; bodily image and appearance; sexual activity; freedom, physical safetyand security; participation in and opportunities for recreation/leisure activities and physicalenvironment.The findings of the study could make a valuable contribution to the knowledge base aboutthe quality of life of first-year health sciences students, and could assist the researcher andother health care professionals to address challenges related to students' quality of life andacademic performance.