Abstract:
Hostel life is remarkable for a student who comes to live far away from their home leaving their families. Hostel from the viewpoint of a support facility in the learning environment increases the regularity, safety, efficacy and effectiveness of the students. Satisfaction for a hostel must be the focal point because it enhances the image of the institution and makes it an attractive choice for prospective students. Moreover, it is an obvious inquiry whether the hostel life makes an impact on the students’ academic and personal life. No study has investigated before the satisfaction of hostel life and impact of hostel life among nursing students in Sri Lanka. Affiliation of the hostel and preparing to be a nursing professional is significant therefore there is a need to yield students’ satisfaction with hostel facilities in a timely manner. This study was to investigate the satisfaction of hostel facilities and the perceived impact of hostel life among the first, second and third-year female nursing students living in a hostel at the college of nursing Anuradhapura. A descriptive cross-sectional study with a total of 99 pre-tested questionnaires was distributed to the respondents based on the total study population sampling method. The level of satisfaction was measured on categorized 10 areas of hostel facilities while the impact of hostel life was assessed on the areas of impact on behaviour and personality and academics. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics in terms of mean score and inferential statistics; ANOVA, t-test and Pearson correlation tests. Significance was set as p<0.05. Ethical approval was obtained from the Rajarata University of Sri Lanka. It was revealed by the study that most of the students prefer college hostels to private accommodation because of the security of the college hostel environment (72.9%). The participants were mostly satisfied with room facilities (M=3.83, SD 0.62)) followed by a security system (M=3.58, SD 0.58)). The respondents were least satisfied with communication and internet facilities (M=2.97, SD 0.41). The perceived impact of hostel life found that living in a hostel makes them orderly (M=3.35, SD 0.54) and gains academic progress (M=3.47, SD 0.61) There is a statistically significant association between satisfaction on hostel facilities and academic year (p=0.036). A significant positive correlation was found between academic year and satisfaction on hostel facilities (r=0.193, p=0.05) and perceived impact on academic activities (r=193, p=0.05). These findings can be useful in terms of continuous improvement of hostel conditions in Sri Lanka which may increase students’ hostel life satisfaction.
