Utilization of student support services by undergraduate students in Nursing Education Institutions in South Africa

Abstract

This article aimed to investigate the availability and utilization of support services by undergraduate (UG) students in a nursing education institution in South Africa. The article employed a quantitative non-experimental descriptive design, using a self-administered questionnaire, to collect data from 118 participants selected through a non-probability random sampling method. The IBM SPSS software was utilized for data analysis, frequencies to illustrate the availability and utilization of student support services and Spearman’s correlation test to determine the relationship between variables. The results showed high awareness of 82.1% to 91.3% for the remedial programs, availability of lecturers for appointments, medical services, and compulsory orientation. Positive correlations were observed between service utilization, school type, place of origin, and parent employment status. The results reflected areas where student support can be improved to address this problem, from pre-enrolment to graduation. There is a need to improve awareness and utilization of the available student support programs through policy formulation and quality enhancement programs for impact and improvement.