The Study of the Interaction Effects between Students and Instructors from Shushtar Nursing Students’ Perspective

Introduction

The ability to communicate is a basic skill for human being (1). Communication means the interaction between at least two people who receive and send the message in order to fulfill a specific purpose (2). Communication is very important in human societies that some experts believe that communication process affects both human development and individual failure (3). In education, communication means the exchange of ideas and information between teachers and students (4). In this regard, three important aspects of the training process that have great impact on the quality of education in universities are teachers, students and educational system. It is obvious that the interaction between the three aspects can be beneficent, and if they are separated from each other and from thecommunity they will not develop effectively (5). Since a part of the responsibility for educating and training of young people is borne by the universities, so, constructive relationship between students and teachers can have a significant impact on improving the education and preventing the educational problems (6). Bearden et al., quoted from Hezarehie and Fathi, indicate that training drop-out is due to the factors such as lack of proper communication between students and teachers, negligence of the teachers to student’s training status, financial problems, and the training boring environment (7). Kenneth Stewart Cole and Roger Braley Cole in their experimental study of  learning how to solve educational problems and students’ progress in some of  theuniversities in America show that guidance and counseling the students improve the influence on the positive self-concept, social skills, and education improvement (8). Those students who specially  attend higher education from different areas  and face new cultural space, new issues such as social status of students and teachers, coeducation, the presence of both boys and girls on campus, living in a dormitory or a private house, can all lead to academic failure. Clearly insufficient guidance or lack of a proper communication can make problem for students to achieve educational and professional goals (9). Ability to communicate is one of the most important indicators of effective teaching and, in turn, indicates the scientific personality characteristics of the teacher. Various characteristics of teachers such as cheerfulness, positive and energetic approach and a desire for guiding can affect communication. Various studies have introduced the numerous factors of the interaction between teachers and students, including: gender, academic ability, and teacher’s communicative style (10). To facilitate the teaching - learning process, teachers especially in universities, must be familiar with the elements of effective communication. In fact, effective teaching depends on communication skills (11). The study was conducted to determine the factors affecting the interaction between teachers and students and to understand views of students and teachers of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences.

Methods

This study was conducted through descriptive - cross sectional method in Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (Shushtar Nursing Branch). Students participated were nursing students, medical emergencies and operation rooms (n = 82).Inclusion criteria consist of: second year students and higher, Willingness to participate in the study and no history mental problem. Exclusion criteria consist of no Willingness to participate in the study.

The instrument used was a researcher-made questionnaire consisted of two parts, the first part contains the individual features and the second part related to effective factor influenced the communication between instructors and students it includes thirty-three questions in 4 general areas (personal characteristics, appearance, professorial characteristics, teaching  qualities) and a 5-point rating scale of Very High, High, Moderate, Low, very Low and Have No Idea was adjusted with a score of 1 to 5.The validity of questionnaire was modified and confirmed with the point of view of faculty members of university and students and the reliability was correlated with Cronbach's alpha coefficient Weber 0/8.In order to collect research data, after the beginning of the class with the permission of the teacher and giving  the necessary explanations to ensure the confidentiality of the questionnaire ,the questionnaires were distributed and after completion, collected at once.After gathering the data, and using the software SPSS, Versions 18,the data was analyzed descriptively.

Results

The results showed that the average age of participants in the study was29.63± 3 .8. The majority of participants in the study were (59.3%) men; other demographic data are presented in Table 1. Results Table 2 shows that the most important characteristics that affect the student-teacher relationship Including: having proper ethical behavior(62.8%), the ability to understand and empathize teachers and students(51.2%) and Happiness is timely and appropriate(53.6%).results table 4 shows that the most important  professional characteristics of teachers that that affect the student teacher relationship including: having knowledge, clinical experience, academic experience, up to date and availability. About teaching characteristic the results of 5 table shows that Using appropriate communication techniques(66.3%), How to hold session(60.5%), Fitness instructor with teaching qualification(61.6%), Appropriate practical experience(64%) are affecting on teacher student relationship. 

Discussion

Communication is a process in which people share thoughts, ideas, and is a tool that enables a person to understand and accept others as well as to be accepted, to transfer or receive information, give or accept the desire, teach or learn. Communication is always a two-way process (12). The study's results indicate that factors such as teacher's age and gender have low or no impact on the relationship between students and teachers.

In this respect, Ghadami et al's study also showed that over 50% of students believed in the lack of the age and gender impact on the interaction between teacher and student and it is in line with the results of the study (13). On the other hand, Esfandiari’s study indicates that factors such as gender affect the interaction between teacher and student, which is not in line with the present study (10). Which these differences may be due to the different environments and cultures. On the other hand, teaching characteristic has an important role in teacher-student interaction, factors such as: using appropriate techniques of communication; dominance on scientific concepts; the fitness of courses of teacher with his or her field of study; and presenting practical experience appropriate to the topic. Ghadami et al.'s study also showed that some of the teacher's educational features that represent the teaching skills such as rhetoric and teaching skills (84%), the academic level of teacher (81.5%), the experience of the teacher (76.5%) are some factors influencing the student-teacher relationship (14). The study's results are in line with the results of the study.

According to this study the personality characteristics of the teacher such as fine pleasant character (54%) has a great impact on the relationship between student and teacher. Similarly, Ghadami et al.'s study showed that the personality characteristics of teacher (68.5%) were effective in improving the relationship between teacher and student and it is in line with the study's results, as well.

Likewise, Abidi et al.'s study showed that students believed the appropriate cheerfulness, modesty, faithfulness of teacher improve the communication between students and teacher and have a remarkable role in teaching and learning process (10, 15).

The results of this study showed that the individual characteristics and professional characteristics of a teacher improve the teacher –student interaction.

According to Gashmard et al.'s study, Bushehr university's students and teachers believed that mastering the course, honesty in speech and behavior, providing interesting educational material are the features of a good teacher (16). Furthermore, Abedini et al.'s study showed that personality and moral aspects of a teacher along with his or her academic and teaching style can improve the relationship between teachers and students as well as the teaching and learning process (17). which is consistent with the results of this study.

While apparent characteristics are not much important and since the professional and teaching features can be learned, it seems that these skills can be strengthened in teachers by workshops; and in this way it improves the communication and promotion of education. The limitation of this study is that only undergraduate students participated in the study and the sampling was performed at nursing college students had better comparison between Schools nursing and other school.