مهارت مدیریت زمان و سطح استرس در بین دانشجویان علوم گفتار و شنوایی شناسی دانشگاه کبانگسان مالزی

This is a preliminary attempt to investigate possible factors that may influence the academic performance in the clinical year students of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Audiology and Speech Sciences Programs. Thirty eight students (i.e. 92% of the overall clinical year students) volunteered as subjects. Their academic performance was based on their Cumulative Grade Point Average. Self-reported time management skills and perceived stress levels were evaluated using a set of questionnaires. The results highlighted that none of these factors have a significant effect on their CGPA. However, more in-depth study on larger target group should be carried out to determine other possible factors that may affect the students’ academic achievement.

A total of 229 graduates have been produced since the establishment of Audiology and Speech Sciences Program, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in 1994. These two programs trained the undergraduate students for four academic years. Students from these programs will be exposed to their actual clinical years starting from their third year first semester. As with most tertiary education, students’ academic performances in these two programs are measured by the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). CGPA showsthe overall students academic performance where it considers the average of all examinations’ grade for all semesters during their tenure in a tertiary education (Ali & Syafena, 2009). Scholarly literatures have shown that time management and stress are among contributing factors which impinge on students’ academic performance and achievement. Generally, time management refers to the development of processes and tools that increase efficiency and productivity while psychological stress is defined as emotional factors which dominate the outcome of one’s action (Encyclopedia Britannica Online, 2011). Although everyone has stress in their lives, people respond to stress in different ways. Some people seem to be severely affected while others seem calm, cool, and collected all the time. Studies by Floyd (2010), Lo (2002) and McHalffey and Pannbacker (1992) showed that students who are involved in clinical education setting are prone to develop stress and anxiety, which later interrupt in their academic performance. Not only that, stress in the educational years may lead to impairment in the practicing years of the professional (Lincoln et al., 2004). Britton and Tesser (1991), Dipboye and Phillips (1990) and Zimmerman (1990) reported that time management is one of the most important skills in organizing the course load and the ability to manage time efficiently will help students in performing better in their studies. Pre-clinical and clinical years are different as students will be exposed to diverse experiences. They need to apply the learnt basic skills and theoretical knowledge from the lectures in their pre-clinical years. Not only that, they also need to demonstrate their acquired mastery skill and combining the information gained in the pre-clinical years in their clinical practice. Furthermore, the aspects of judgment would also be different between pre-clinical and clinical years. The knowledge and experiences are different as the time goes by and these aspects will affect the confidence level of the students in their clinic practice. Therefore, these combining aspects may become factors that can affect the academic performance of Audiology and Speech Sciences students during their clinical years. As part of the Audiology and Speech Sciences Department academic staffs, the researchers found that the academic performance of the majority of students decline as they started their clinical years. However, no study has been done to investigate the possible causes that may affect or influence the students’ academic performance during their clinical years. As a preliminary study, this study focuses only on two possible fundamental causes (i.e. selfreported time management and stress level) that may be the reasons of the decline in the students’ academic performance. It is hoped that the findings from this study will contribute towards the ground of knowledge in overcoming these influential factors.

This study showed that there was no significant relationship between the CGPA, time management and also the perceived stress levels by the Audiology and Speech Sciences clinical year students. This could be due to the fact that the students used computer based planner and they almost never prepared for their exams during the lastminute. We have also seen that the students are able to prioritise their studies from leisure activities. Even though the students often felt stressed during their clinical years, the self-reported results also illustrate that the students felt confident about their ability to handle problems and things were going their way occasionally. We suggest that this may be the factors which enable the students to overcome their stress. Many students find long, medium and short term planning useful for organizing their study. Planning ahead saves time, energy and avoid stress. We hope that the findings from this preliminary study will act as a benchmark towards a more in-depth study that encompasses on a larger target group. Not only that, other possible factors that have potential to influence the students’ academic performance, for example, learning style should also be explored. It is essential to determine all possible factors that may affect students’ academic performance and the reason for the drying up of academic inspiration in the students. Future in-depth study will foster possible positive academic ambience and later will produce more competent and professional students in the Audiology and Speech Sciences field.