Nursing and midwifery students’ perceptions of educational environment and grade point average: a comparison between nursing and midwifery students

BACKGROUND: The educational environment is an essential component of student learning. Study of the educational environment is crucial to provision of a learning quality, student-centered program for nursing and midwifery fields. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the associations between baccalaureate nursing and midwifery students’ perceptions of educational environment (SPEE) and grade point average (GPA), and comparison between students of nursing and midwifery field. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Hamadan Nursing and Midwifery Faculty. In this study, 249 nursing and 59 midwifery students participated. The study period lasted 12 months. We used an Iranian -language version of the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) questionnaire to measure nursing and midwifery students’ perceptions of the educational environment. The data analysis was performed using descriptive statistic, Pearson’s coefficient, Spearman’s coefficient, and independent t-test through the SPSS version 16. P-value less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: There was significant difference in nursing and midwifery students in perceptions of learning (SPL) (p=0.0001), perceptions of Teaching (SPT) (p=0.009), Academic self-perceptions (SASP) (p=0.005) and perceptions of educational environment. There was correlation between categories’ perceptions of teaching and GPA (p=0.016), academic self-perceptions and GPA (p=0.001). Moreover, there was correlation between perceptions of educational environment and GPA (p=0.028). CONCLUSION: Although there was significant difference in nursing and midwifery students in perceptions of the educational environment, there was straight correlation between the educational environment and GPA, and there is opportunity for development of the educational environment. As the discipline of nursing education advances, there is need to develop the learning environment in areas of perceptions of teaching and academic self-perceptions, to build an effective learning environment for attaining better GPA, which addresses nursing educational managers and considers items beyond college, like social topics. Furthermore, it requires studying the effect of the learning environment on educational outcome in Iranian nursing and midwifery faculties.