Effective Factors on Academic Success of Nursing and Midwifery Students at Kashan University of Medical Sciences

Academic success of college students is one of the main aims and major concerns of the university authorities, students and their families that it is influenced by many factors. This study aimed to investigate the academic success of nursing and midwifery students and effective factors at Kashan University of Medical Sciences in 2015. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 244 undergraduate nursing and midwifery students who were selected randomly among a total of 300 students. Firstly, the sample size was calculated after a pilot study. To measure the academic success, the Academic Success Inventory for College Students (ASICS) was used. After translation of the questionnaire, 8 faculty members confirmed its content validity. The overall CVI calculated as 0.83; the CVR of the items ranged between 0.80 and 1; and the Cronbach's alpha was also calculated as 0.82. Moreover, data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics including Pearson correlation coefficient, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis, and also Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was executed to verify the data normality. Subsequently, a significant relationship was observed between the mean score of academic success of midwifery students and being native (p = 0.006) and housing conditions (p = 0.047). Spearman correlation coefficient also showed a significant relationship between nursing and midwifery students’ academic success scores and the overall GPA, and the students’ average in the last semester. In conclusion, the present study showed that the mean scores of the academic success was higher in native midwifery students as well as the nursing and midwifery students living in dormitories rather other groups. Considering the result of study, further studies with greater sample size are suggested to be conducted in other nursing schools to investigate the effect of other factors such as the number of courses and units possessed and passed.