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The relationship between approaches to study and academic performance among A ustralian undergraduate occupational therapy students
Author(s) -
Brown Ted,
Murdolo Yuki
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
australian occupational therapy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.595
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1440-1630
pISSN - 0045-0766
DOI - 10.1111/1440-1630.12340
Subject(s) - occupational therapy , medical education , psychology , medicine , physical therapy
Background/aim The academic success and degree completion of tertiary students depends on their academic performance ( AP ), commonly measured by the percentage grades for the units they complete. No research has examined whether occupational therapy students’ approaches to study are predictive of their AP . This study investigated whether approaches to study were predictive of the AP among a group of Australian undergraduate occupational therapy students. Methods A total of 376 undergraduate occupational therapy students completed the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students ( ASSIST ). Regression analysis was conducted using a range of demographic characteristics and the ASSIST scores as independent variables with students’ self‐reported by their self‐reported mean percentage grade range (as a proxy indicator of their AP ) as the dependent variable. Results The deep and the strategic approaches to study were not significantly correlated with occupational therapy students’ AP . The ASSIST fear of failure subscale of the surface approach to study had a unique contribution to AP , accounting for 1.3% of its total variance. Occupational therapy students’ year level of enrolment made a unique contribution to their AP , accounting for 4.2% of the total variance. Age and gender made a unique contribution to AP as well although their impact was small. Conclusions Undergraduate occupational therapy students’ approaches to study were predictive of their AP to a very limited degree. However, their AP was predicted by a number of demographic variables, including age, gender and year level of enrolment. Further study in this area is recommended.