FACTORS RELATED TO QUALITY OF LIFE AND SATISFACTION IN NURSING STUDENTS

Abstract

Universities in their role of trainer should provide an academic environment that encourages the quality of life of students. Objective: To determine the factors related to quality of life and satisfaction in nursing students. Methods: Cross sectional, descriptive and co relational research that was performed on Nursing students from the University of Concepción, Chile, in 2009. The sample consisted of 228 students. A Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (Q-LES-Q-SF) was applied. Also, a questionnaire with academic and extra-academic variables was applied prior informed consent. Descriptive statistics, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient; linear regression; ANOVA of a factor, with Tukey’s post-hoc test, and Student’s t-test were used. Results: Students’ Quality of Life was high and very high (90.4%), but teacher’s support (35.9%), fexibility of the curriculum (35.9%), and discrimination from the academic community (37.7%) were considerably low, although none of them was related to the level of Quality of Life. The Bivariate analysis demonstrated a statistically significant correlation between Quality of Life and the following variables: academic success, roles of the student, social relationships, and family support. Conclusions: There are academic and extra-academic factors infuencing the students’ Quality of Life. The correlation of the variable ‘roles of the student’ was opposite to the expected; the group with multiple roles had a better Quality of Life than the remunerated dual-role group, the non-remunerated dual-role group, and the single-role group.