Background of the study: A Skill is a type of effort, slog or project which needs particular drill and mastry or cognition. Students learn substantially with guides who consider students uniqueness and individuality, it is helpful to understand the fact that every student is different and everyone learns differently. The nursing profession and curriculum is made up of very tight schedule for the trainee nurses so by adopting a healthy study skills and habits will help the Nursing students to achieve academic goals.

Objectives:

1. To assess the study skills of undergraduate Nursing students at selected Nursing colleges.
2. To compare different components of study skills of undergraduate Nursing students at selected nursing colleges with each other.
3. To find out association between the study skills of undergraduate Nursing students at selected nursing colleges with selected socio demographic variables.

Research methodology:

Design   : Non Experimental, Descriptive Research Design

Setting   : Selected Nursing Colleges of district Gurdaspur.

Target population: Undergraduate students studying in various Nursing colleges of District Gurdaspur, Punjab, India

Sample size: 700 students.

Sampling technique: Simple Purposive sampling technique.

Result and conclusion: Mean satisfaction score and deviation of total 700 study subjects were 194.11±200 respectively and median of 700 samples was 37.68 maximum and minimum value for 700 study subjects are 275±30. Mean percentage of 700 sample is 64.75. Out of 700, maximum 428 (61.1%) Undergraduate Nursing students had Very Good Level of Study Skills, and Minimum 6(0.9%) Undergraduate Nursing students had Poor Level of Study Skills According to Domain wise analysis Preparing for tests, got first rank with mean percentage of 70.63% and managing your time, with mean percentage of 56.63 got the sixth rank among all the areas taken in the study. The study skill score of undergraduate Nursing students was not significant with any of the socio-demographic variable.

Keywords: study skill, undergraduate nursing students, nursing colleges

A Skill is a type of effort, slog or project which needs particular drill and mastery or cognition and Study skills, or study strategies are perspectives appealed to education. As the todays ultimatum for nursing personal are increasing day by day both at national and international level, India has shown a fair augmentation of institutes which provides future nurses. The outcome of any educational endeavor is greatly influenced by the way students approach learning. Good study habits among students are responsible for excellent performance in academics whereas lack in good study tricks and habits may lead the child towards academic failure. Study skills being very important part of nursing education as it helps to fill the gap between theory and practice and are the foundation of nursing as a health profession. Clinical experiences must be more effective if there is a concerned, strong and good study skill, and if the atmosphere of the clinical area is supportive and positive enough enhance the learning of the young nurses. Leaning is affected a lot by the relationship between the clinical area staff supervisors and student guides.

Globally as per 2018, the QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) world university rankings by subject includes a ranking of more than top 100 Nursing colleges in the world are ranked on the basis of factors such as their academic and employer standing retention. Whereas Indian Nursing education stands on 119^th rank.

Nationally According to World Bank data, 67^th rank is secured by India in respect of numbers of Doctors, among and I terms of Nurses India got 75th rank .Although India always proved itself a big supplier of health care workers to developed countries and the world. But there is always a gap seen between knowledge, studies and practices. Improving student nurses abilities toward self-directed study is one of the main responsibilities of the nurse educator. Lack of knowledge by the nurses can lead to life threatening conditions so it is clear that low grades or performances leads to less knowledge which further affect the nation in a direct way

Nedaalimahomadi et al. (2016) conducted a cross sectional study in Hamadan University of Medical Sciences. study habits questionnaire (PSSHI)was used on 220 nursing student. Majority (86.9%) of students were having relatively good study habits, (6.8%) were favorable, and in few (4.5%) of them were having poor study habits. In general, student’s study habits are in moderate grade.

Quantitative Research approach was adopted in the study. This study was carried out at the selected Nursing Colleges of the district Gurdaspur, Punjab (Sukhjindra College of Nursing, City college of Nursing, Baba Mehar Singh Memorial College of Nursing, VMS College of Nursing, Royal Institute of Nursing, JUSS Institute of Nursing, Jhulka institute of Nursing and Guru Arjun Dev college of Nursing). Purposive sampling technique was used to select 700 Nursing students. Data was obtained by using Standardized three point Rating scale. Tool consist of two sections.

Part-I Socio demographic variables: This part consists of 12 items for obtaining information about the sample’s Gender, Age, Religion, Education, Marital status, Father’s Occupation, Mother’s Occupation, Father’s Education, Mother’s Education, family income, Residence and family type.

Section B: Standardized Study skill questionnaire from the University of Central Florida’s Student Academic Resource Center. There will be total 6 domains under study skills as reading text books, taking notes, studying, memorizing, preparing for test, managing your time. Analysis and interpretation of data was analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Criterion measure: The statements were developed for respondents to respond on three point rating scale i.e. rarely, sometimes, often .Under each category, there will be 5 statements. Therefore there were total 30 statements. The score of each statement was as follows.

Level of study skills scores

Poor 0-60

Average 61-20

Good 121-180

Very Good 181-240

Excellent 241-300

Maximum Score=300, Minimum Score=00

Major findings

1. The findings of the present study revealed that mean study skill of Undergraduate Nursing students is 452.9(64.70%).
2. According to Domain wise analysis Preparing for tests, got first rank with mean percentage of 70.63% and managing your time, with mean percentage of 56.63 got the sixth rank among all the areas taken in the study.
3. The study skill score of undergraduate Nursing students was not significant with any of the socio-demographic variable.

A standardized. Three point rating scale was used to collect the data. Study was done to Assess the Level of Study Skills of the Undergraduate Nursing Students at Selected Nursing colleges of District Gurdaspur, Punjab, India. The investigator utilized purposive sampling technique to select the subjects. The findings were discussed on the basis of demographic characteristics, objectives of the research study.^1-5

Objective 1:

First objective in the study was to assess the study skills of undergraduate Nursing students at selected Nursing colleges.

The findings of the study resulted as that out of 700 Undergraduate Nursing students, maximum 428 (61.1%) Undergraduate Nursing students had Very Good Level of Study Skills, followed by 181(25.9%) Undergraduate Nursing students had Good Level of Study Skills, 58 (8.3%) Undergraduate Nursing students had Excellent Level of Study Skills, followed by 27(3.9%) Undergraduate Nursing students had Average Level of Study Skills and Minimum i.e. 6(0.9%) Undergraduate Nursing students had Poor Level of Study Skills. The finding of study was supported by, Emal Bavi1 and Leila Asilzadeh (2012), in the study Results they revealed that 21.4% of students had adverse study skills, and 60.5% had favorable study habits in University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.

Objective 2:

Second objective of the study was to compare different components of study skills of undergraduate Nursing students at selected nursing colleges with each other. The present study inferred that out of 6 Domains of study skills maximum mean percentage (70.4%) got by undergraduate Nursing students in preparing for tests area which got the 1^st rank. 2^nd rank got by the studying domain by securing (69.7) mean percentage , Memorizing among study skills got 3^rd rank among 6 domains by mean percentage of (67.3%), Reading text books secured 66.6% mean percentage and got 4^th rank among all the domains, Taking notes among study skills got 5^th rank among domains of study skills by mean percentage of (57.6%), minimum mean percentage (56.6%) got by undergraduate Nursing students in managing your time, area which got the last 6^th rank among all 6 domains and Overall mean percentage of the study skills domain is (64.7%). The results of the study done by Emal Bavi1 and Leila Asilzadeh (2012) indicate that the problems of the students in various areas of study skills are respectively assigned various components such as to memory capabilities, taking exams, reading competence, learning motivation, time management, physical situation, note taking and health. Time management domain got the last rank with mean percentage (34.8%) as a most problematic area in study skills.

Objective 3:

Second objective of the study was to find out association between the study skills of undergraduate Nursing students at selected nursing colleges with selected socio demographic variables. As per Gender of majority of respondents were females (82%), maximum (77%) of Undergraduate Nursing students belonged to age group of 18-21 years as per Religion maximum (47%) Undergraduate Nursing students were Sikh, as per Marital status, more than half, (81%) were Unmarried Undergraduate Nursing students, according to Father’s Education, maximum Father’s of Undergraduate Nursing students (34%) had done higher secondary According to Mother’s Education, Maximum(33%) Mother’s of Undergraduate Nursing students had done higher secondary and Minimum (3%) of them were Uneducated as per Father’s occupation more than half of the Father’s of Undergraduate Nursing students (68%) were skilled. as per Mother’s occupation more than half of the (74%) of Undergraduate Nursing students were Unskilled. In accordance with Family income per month, maximum (39%) of Nursing students were having Family income below Rs 20000, as per Family type, maximum (66%) of Nursing students have Nuclear family.in accordance with Nursing students Residence (61%) were outliving (P.G, Home, relative). Emal Bavi1 and Leila Asilzadeh (2012), in their study he revealed that 87(64.4%) were in the age group of 20-25 years. Regarding educational status of the mothers, majority 49(36.3%) had completed middle level of education. Regarding religion, most of them were muslims 109(80.7%).

In present study it was concluded that gender, age, religion, marital status, occupation, Fathers and mothers education, family type, mothers and fathers occupation, family income and residence had no association with the study skill score of undergraduate Nursing students. Results were supported by the study done by Emal Bavi1 and Leila Asilzadeh (2012) and revealed no association between socio demographic variables of the study and study skill level of Undergraduate Nursing students.

Reghuram R, Hari Krishna and Angitha S pillai in Trivandrum (2016) carried out a Descriptive study to assess the study habits, scholastic performance among Nursing students. 170 subjects were recruited using total enumeration sampling. Results revealed that only a minority of students(6%) have very good study habits, whereas76.4% students have good study habits and 17.6% of the students have average study habits. the study habits and scholastic performance share a very strong relationship (p<0.05). The study also revealed that there was association between socio-personal variables like age, gender, board of schooling, duration of hours spend for study in a day, time spend for extracurricular activities with study habits (p<0.05).

The study was undertaken to assess the Level of Study Skills of the Undergraduate Nursing Students at Selected Nursing colleges. A total of 700 samples were taken. Purposive sampling technique was used to collect data. Standardized three point rating scale is used in the study. The result was calculated by using descriptive and inferential statistics. From the findings it was concluded that majority of respondents were females (82%) and most of them belong to Sikh religion. study revealed that mean percentage of study skill score of Undergraduate Nursing students is 452.9 (64.70%).

1. Written permission was taken from research ethical clearance committee.
2. Written permission was taken from Principal, of various Nursing colleges, taken under study, in district, Gurdaspur, Punjab.
3. Written informed consent was taken from each study sample.
4. Confidentiality of the study samples taken in the study was maintained.

Self.

Nil.

You came to my aid unplanned

And expect nothing in demand

But I want you to understand

That I’m thankful for your helping hands 

I accord my sincere gratitude to God for his benign blessings for bestowing on me creative and healthy environment throughout the conduct of research project. A word of commendation is for my Supervisor, Dr. Mrs. Ramesh Kumari, experts from various fields ,members of Research Panel, Principle of Nursing Colleges, Mr BK Aneja, I extend my thanks to my beloved Husband Gurjeet Singh Jogar, Daughter-Tegh Kaur Jogar and my beloved parents. 

“All may not be mentioned, but none is forgotten from the heart”

With bouquet of thanks

Dr Harjinder

1. Anju Narayanan, Anu P J, Anusha P N. Study Habits among Nursing Students of a Selected Educational Institute in Mangaluru, India. AIJRHASS. 2015;15(18):204–206.
2. https://www.definitions.net/definition/study+skills.
3. Sevenson L. On qualitative differences in learning: study skill and learning. British Journal of Educational Psychology. 1977;3(47):233–243.
4. https://geniusinthisworld.wordpress.com/2018/01/26/study-skills.
5. Malek Feredouni Moghadam, Bahman Cheraghian. Study habits and their academic performance among students of Abadan school of nursing. 2009;(6).