HEALTH BEHAVIOR AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AMONG FEU-NRMF NURSING STUDENTS: IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP?

ABSTRACT: This study determined the relationship between health and academic performance of FEU-NRMF Second Year students for the Second Semester of SY 2006-2007. A total of 196 students from sections D, E, F and H were selected using stratified random sampling, but only a total of 164 volunteered to participate. Healthy behaviors based on Diet, Rest, Physical activity and were assessed using a questionnaire adapted from Pleasure Trap Test, and categorized as healthy or unhealthy. Academic performance was assessed using the General Weighted Average, and categorized as either good or fair/poor. Relationship between health behavior and academic performance was determined in the univariate analysis using chi-square test and confounders were controlled using a stratified analysis. Level of significance was set at alpha, a, 0.05. About one-third of the respondents (32.9%) had good academic performance and more than half, 55.5% had a healthy behavior as a whole. The relationship of overall health behavior and academic performance was found to be significant, p-value+0.016. The relationship however was not found to be significant when health behavior was specifiedd to its subcategorym i.e.; Diet, Physical activity, and Rest. For Vices however, those with healthy behavior had significantly higher proportion of good performance than those with unhealthy behavior, p-value+0.039, (41.8% vs 16.7%). Among the confounders, the relationship between health behavior and academic performance was statistically significantonly in female gender, class attendance (without habit of missing class) and video &/computerr gaming (above the mean+6.74 hours/week).

Department of Community & Family Medicine