FACTORS AFFECTING THE PERFORMANCE OF EPIDEMIOLOGY STUDENTS AT THE FACULTY OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND HEALTH INFORMATICS, UMM AL-QURA UNIVERSITY

Most of the previous studies on the academic performance of students have investigated the effect of different factors such as gender, socio-economic factor, class environment, family education background, and teaching style. These studies revealed that the students’ performance was significantly affected by the mentioned variables. The current study was performed to detect the factors affecting the students’ performance in the undergraduates of the Epidemiology Department. A case-control study was implemented. One hundred and twenty students from different educational levels in the Epidemiology Department were considered. There was a significant association between the time spent on car driving and GPA decrease (p-value < 0.003). Moreover, a highly significant association was found between playing with the car (Tafhit) and low GPA (p-value < 0.0001). The results also showed high significance with the period spent in playing with the car (p-value < 0.0001). Low GPA was found significant with using snap chat (p-value < 0.05), and also the students who used it for three hours or more per day obtained low GPA (p-value < 0.007).

The socially active students were offered low GPA (p-value < 0.008). However, the results showed significance between working and decrease in GPA (p-value < 0.05) and also, the work duration have significance with decreased in GPA (p-value < 0.02). The teaching language was the problem for students (p-value < 0.03). The students who have smoking habit have obtained less GPA than others (p-value < 0.05). The study found that the performance of the students was affected with many factors including playing with the car for three hours or more per day, using snap chat for more than three hours per day, being constantly busy with social life, addition work, lack of proficiency in English language, and smoking.