Journal of Education, Society and Behavioural Science

Introduction: Stress is a physical and emotional reaction that individuals exhibit as a result of the threat from demanding circumstance(s). Excessive exposure to stress may result in mental and physical problems which may diminish a student's sense of worth and might affect his or her academic outcome. This high level of stress has been widely reported among undergraduate nursing students throughout their academic program.

Aims: This study determined the implications of stress and study habit on the academic outcome of undergraduate nursing students.

Study Design: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used for this study.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Nursing, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Osogbo Osun State and Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo Ogun State between April, 2018 and May, 2018.

Methodology: A convenient sampling technique was used to select 156 participants from a target population of 762 undergraduate students (200 – 500 Level) in the selected institutions. Data were obtained using a self-developed questionnaire which consists of three sections that address the objectives of this study. Hypotheses were tested at 5% level of significance.

Results: Findings from the study show that 20.1% of the respondents usually experience tiredness when they are about to study, 22% reported using stimulants to help them read for a longer period. Furthermore, 42.0% of the student engaged in personal studies and 41.4% used group discussions. 23.7% of the students claimed that proper preparation for tests and examinations improved their academic outcome. Overall, 57.7% of the respondents go through moderate level of stress while 9.6% go through high level stress.  The findings from the study show that there is no significant association between studying habits and academic outcome of the undergraduate nursing students (p. Value > 0.005).

Conclusion: Nursing students (who are the future nurses), face considerable levels of physical, psychological and mental stress during the course of their training, which in turn affects their academic performance. There is also no significant association between studying habits and academic outcome of the undergraduate nursing students (p. Value > 0.005). It is therefore important to identify stressors among such students and equip them with and/or provide appropriate coping mechanisms that can help the students adjust to stressful situations, and in turn emerge as excellent health care professionals.

The purpose of this study was to explore the living conditions of school children from broken homes in the Ga East Municipality and to assess its impact on their academic performance. This study was intended to examine the coping strategies of the children in handling their traumas of divorce. The descriptive survey design was adopted in this study. The purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to select 60 children from schools and in various communities in the municipality to take part in the study. Questionnaires were used to collect primary data from these respondents. The study found that the living conditions of majority of the respondents were not good after the divorce of their parents. It also came to light that the academic performance of most of the respondents was either very good or good before the divorce but after the divorce, most of the respondents had poor or very poor academic performance. It was observed that most of the respondents coped with the challenges of the divorce by spending more time with friends at school or with their relatives. From the present study, it could be concluded that when children are not given a conducive environment at home to have enough time to study due to parental divorce, it can impact negatively on their academic performance.

The aim of the research is to determine whether there is a statistically significant relationship between attachment and emotional intelligence. We used a revised questionnaire (ECR-R) to determine the relationship and we used the TEIQue-SF questionnaire to determine emotional intelligence. The research sample consisted of 260 respondents from 22 to 25 years, where the average age was 23.45 years. Within the results, we found that there is a moderately strong negative relationship between avoidant attachment and emotional intelligence and a strong negative relationship between anxious attachment and emotional intelligence.

This study explores the challenges that the manufacturing sector in Tanzania face in identifying and capturing competent university graduates in their recruitment and retention processes. The main objectives of the study were: (i) to identify the generic employability skills required by manufacturing employers in Tanzania and, (ii) to investigate manufacturing industry employers’ satisfaction with the recruited talents’ performance. The study was carried out by inviting employers to complete a survey which was sent to them by mail in 2017. Out of 200 questionnaires sent to 200 companies which were identified through the Directory of Employers Association of Tanzania, 80 companies responded with 80 usable questionnaires which made a 40% response rate. In particular, about 69% of employers considered employees’ inter-personal qualities either very important or important and were satisfied with them, Pearson’s Chi Square = 12.898, P = .012. The study also found that informational skills, inter-personal qualities, technological skills, and entrepreneurial skills were significantly associated with employers’ satisfaction with overall employee performance. However, employers also identified a mismatch between skills the graduates have compared to what they consider as ideal generic skills and competencies required in the sector. The These findings suggest that there is a great need of enhancing academia-public-private partnership in improving higher education institutions’ delivery in order to meet labour market demands and employers’ expectations.

The study examined the productive participation of the physically challenged through Technical Vocational Education Training programmes in Rivers State. A population of 387 registered mobility impaired and visually impaired persons were used for the study while a sample of 284 was selected through purposive sampling technique. Three research questions were answered, and three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The instrument for data collection was a self-structure questionnaire developed by the researchers that was structured in the pattern of 5-point Likert rating scale of agreement and extent. The instrument was face and contents validated by three experts. The reliability of the instrument was established through Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) which yielded correlation coefficient of 0.86. Mean and standard deviation were used to analyse the research questions while z-test was used to test the hypotheses. The study found among others that unwillingness of the participant to training, discrimination, lack of jobs after training and high technical fees were some of the barriers for implementing TVET to the physically challenged persons in Rivers State. It was recommended among others that at least two TVET special schools and training centres should be built (setup) in each senatorial zone in Rivers State, trained technical teachers should be employed, TVET programmes should be free for productive participation of the physically challenged in Rivers State.

A key indicator of the SDG goal of attaining Universal Health Coverage is the access to quality essential health care services, access to safe, effective, quality, and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all. Although The Federal Government of Nigeria has adopted the SDGs, data from UNICEF’s Multiple Cluster survey 2016 – 2017 indicates a severe disparity in health care service coverage among poor women and children who reside in rural areas. To this end, this communication advocates that the National Assembly ensures that 15% - 20% of health expenditure goes to Primary Health Care. Also, the amendment of the NHIS Act to include community based insurance schemes and employ its powers of scrutiny and oversight functions in order to reduce the dearth in Primary Health care facilities in rural areas.

Educating the visually impaired requires unique consideration in which they would be provided with the tools, skills, and strategies they need to develop alternative means of obtaining information. The alternative means are compensatory access, sensory efficiency, assistive technology, orientation and mobility, independent living, social interaction, recreation and leisure career education and self-determination skills. The study sought to investigate the expanded core curriculum skills for students with visual impairment. It compares the level at which these skills were acquired and how they influence their competence. The researchers employed descriptive cross-sectional design for the study. 93 students with visual impairment were selected using multi-stage sampling technique from University of Cape Coast and University of Education, Winneba for the study. Frequency and percentages and ANOVA were used to analyse the data to answer the research questions and the hypothesis respectively. The results of the study indicated that majority of the students with visual impairment started the study of the expanded core curriculum skills from the basic level of education. It also became clear that those who started the learning of the expanded core curriculum at the basic level proved to be very competent. It was recommended that the Special Education Division of Ghana Education Service should intensify the teaching and learning of expanded core curriculum skills at the basic school so as to continue to impact ECC competence throughout a child’s academic life.