Association between Type of School, Level of Study and Learning Preferences of Nursing Students in Schools of Nursing in Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

Learning preference in this study is the way student nurses in Anambra State Schools of Nursing prefer to learn with their sensory modalities. Visual is preference for graphic information, Aural is for information that is heard, Read/Write preference refers to information that is displayed as words while Kineasthetic preference is linked to the use of experience or practice. These preferences are important in the learning of the students. The study assessed the association between type of school, level of study and learning preferences among nursing students in Schools of Nursing in Anambra state. In this study, descriptive cross-sectional survey was used. About 342 respondents whom were selected by Random Sampling Technique. Instrument used for online data collection was Visual, Aural, Read/Write, Kineasthetic questionnaire version 8.01 and the researcher’s demographic questionnaire. The respondents filled the questionnaire online based on their levels of study. Data were analyzed using Visual, Aural, Read/Write, Kineasthetic standard algorithm, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 25. Descriptive statistics was presented in frequency tables and percentages. Chi-square was used to test the hypotheses at p-value < 0.05 significance level. Findings showed that type of school had significant association χ2=37.95; p<0.001with learning preferences of the students while level of study had no significant association χ2=7.33; p=0.12 with their learning preferences. Assessing the learning preferences of the students has been able to bring about a great value in the training of nurses. The knowledge most likely will help educators to formulate a good teaching methods that will be based on learning preferences; the use of diverse teaching methods that address different learning preferences of the students would boost learning and improve their academic performance. Preparation of Nursing Curriculum that utilizes more active strategies to accommodate the diverse learning preferences of the students in their different levels of study is recommended.