Relationship between self-discipline and study habits among nursing students of Kerala

• Author Details:   
• Mary Poulose
• Usha Marath
• Aleena Therese Mathew
• Alphonsa M Thomas ^*
• Asnitha Basheer
• Anitta Mathews
• Aleena Denny

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Introduction: Nursing is a profession that requires a wide range of knowledge to provide high-quality care. A major portion of the knowledge we attained is from the student period. Becoming an effective and successful student requires building certain characteristics into habits and one of these habits is self-discipline. Self-discipline or self-control refers to the ability to control one’s feelings. Study habits are the regular tendencies and practices that one depicts during the process of gaining information through learning. There are several factors which affect the self-discipline of nursing students, which are honesty, trustworthiness, adaptive behaviour and genuineness. Study habits are affected by learning motivation, planning for study, effective reading, revision and preparation. The study aimed to find out the relationship between self-discipline and the study habits of nursing students.

Materials and Methods: A correlational research design was employed in this study. A total of 200 undergraduate nursing students were selected using a convenient sampling technique. Data was collected using a socio-demographic data sheet, a self-discipline rating scale to assess the self-discipline of nursing students, and a study habits rating scale to evaluate their study habits.

Results: The analysis of study habits among nursing students revealed that out of 200 participants, 61% of the nursing students had average study habits, 29% had good study habits, 8% had poor study habits, and only 2% exhibited excellent study habits. In terms of self-discipline, the findings indicated that about 2% of nursing students demonstrated very good self-discipline, 34% had good self-discipline, 53% showed average self-discipline, and 12% of had poor self-discipline. The study revealed a moderate positive correlation [r-0.54, P-0.00001] between self-discipline and study habits among nursing students.

Conclusion: Academic achievement is a significant concern for students, and two major factors contributing to this achievement are good study habits and self-discipline. Without a clear foundation of discipline to guide the development of the profession, it is easy for the students to lose their way. The study found that the relationship between study habits and self-discipline tends to be directly proportional when self-discipline increases, study habits improve, and conversely, when self-discipline decreases, study habits also decline. Therefore, this study recommends that students focus on improving their self-discipline, as gains in self-discipline are closely linked to better study habits; educators should pay more attention to students who exhibit poor study habits.

Keywords: Self-discipline, Study habits, Nursing students.