| dc.description.abstract | Kenya has seen a drastic growth in nursing education sector recording high rates of
enrolment of students to training while their performance in Nursing Council of Kenya
(NCK) examination remained variable. This study investigated performance of BSc
nursing students in NCK examinations by determining student characteristics,
examining institutional characteristics and analyzing regulatory body characteristics in
relation to performance. NCK identified it as priority area of research. The research
design was retrospective, using mixed method approach to collect data. A total of 1292
records of students who sat examinations July 2012-June 2015 from NCK nurses’
database was used. Cluster and purposive sampling were done for key informants
interviewed from schools of nursing. Quantitative data was converted from MS Access
to SAS version 8 and analyzed. Odds ratio was used to measure strength of association
between student, institutional and regulatory body characteristics and performance with
p ≤ 0.05 being considered significant. Qualitative data was recorded and transcribed for
content analysis. The proportion of those who passed and aged 30 years and above was
significantly higher than those who were less than 30 years (OR: 1.6, 95% CI: 1.2-2.2,
p= 0.002). Both class attendance policy and faculty experience had marginal association
(OR: 0.4, 95%CI: 1.0-2.0, p=0.068) and (OR: 0.7, 95%CI: 0.5-1.0, p=0.068)
respectively. Admission criteria, marital status and employment, together with validity
and timing of examination were reported by key informants to influence performance. In
conclusion the study identified age, faculty years of experience and class attendance
policy as significant factors that were associated with performance. Marital status,
employment, timing of examinations and validity were reported by key informants to
influence performance. The study recommends training institutions to continue with
upgrading programmes, identify ways of addressing low performance, uphold class
attendance policy, select faculty based on experience. NCK to review their examination
process, set examination that test competency and conduct licensure examinations after
internship.Results can be used to predict performance and facilitate development of
policies for recruitment and examination. | en_US |
