Factors That Affect Learning In Health Sciences University Students

Meaningful learning through formal instruction depends not only on teacher's knowledge, but also on other factors like how motivated students are to learn. Considering that learning is not the same thing that getting a passing grade, the objective of this research was to determine the factors that affect Health Sciences student learning. This research was qualitative. The participant sample was composed of 180 Health Science students from the University of Malaga (Spain), enrolled in different degrees: Nursing (31%), Physiotherapy (10%) and Occupational Therapy (59%). There were 129 women (72%) and 51 men (28%) with a mean age of 21.22 years (SD=2.58). A small survey with open questions was applied as a data collection tool. To analyze the data obtained, the constant comparison method of Lincoln and Guba was followed. The main question of this research was: Which are the main factors that affect learning in Health Sciences university students? Results shows that the main categories of factors that affect learning in Health Sciences university students are: the class methodology (55%), including interactive classes; the curricular content (theme or topic) studied in class (17%); the teacher profile (13%), including implication with students; the own student profile (4%), including their intrinsic motivation; the classmates profile (4%), including the sensation of being with friends; the future expectative (4%), including the pressure to get a scholarship and; some physiological needs (3%), including been in class sleepy or hungry.