Perception of Educational Environment among Nursing Students of Different Colleges: A Cross- Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Learners are key figures for whom the provision and perception of positive, progressive and encouraging interactive educational environment at any educational institution is very crucial. The study aimed to find the perception of nursing students of two different medical colleges regarding their educational environment. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 190 students through the use of internationally validated, non-culturally specific questionnaire. The responses were made on five points Likert scale scored from 0 to 4. The overall score was interpreted as very poor, plenty of problems, more positive than negative and excellent based on obtained score of 0-50, 51-100, 101-150 and 151-200 respectively. Descriptive statistics and one way analysis of variance test was used to analyze the collected data. Results: There were 98 (51.6%) participants from College of Medical Sciences and 92 (48.4%) from Lumbini Medical College and Teaching Hospital. The overall score of perception of educational environment were 142.13±14.90 (74.64%) and 144.34±15.59 (76.14%) in the two centers respectively which means more positive than negative perceptions. Only nature of accommodation was found statistically significant with students’ perception of teachers (p = 0.014). Conclusion: Majority opined a more positive than negative perception towards educational environment. Good communication skills of teachers, knowledgeable teachers, teaching to develop their competence level were some positive perceptions. Whereas, teachers being authoritarian, focus on short term and factual learning, lack of support system were the areas which could be improved.