Original Article
 
Prevalence and factors associated with adjustment problems among first year students in St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Hadgu Gerensea1, Almaz Seid2, Girma Lemma3, Patricia Malloy4
1chool of Nursing, Axum University, Axum, Ethiopia
2ikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
3School of education and behavioral studies, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
4College of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon Saskatchewan
Article ID: 100011P13HG2017
doi:10.5348/P13-2017-11-OA-2

Address correspondence to:
Almaz Seid
Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia

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How to cite this article
Gerensea H, Seid A, Lemma G, Malloy P. Prevalence and factors associated with adjustment problems among first year students in St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Edorium J Psychol 2017;3:10–17.


ABSTRACT
Aims: For many new college students attending a university/college for the first time can be a stressful experience. This study focused on assessing the prevalence and factors associated with an adjustment problem among first year students attending St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa Ethiopia.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with first year students using an adapted and validated, through a pilot study, version of the Students Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ). A total of 108 participants were selected through simple random sampling from a pool of 150 students. Analysis, included descriptive statistics, independent simple t-test, and a one way ANOVA, was completed on the sample (n = 98).
Results: The SACQ tool divides adjustment into four subscales of adjustment, social, personal-emotional, and institutional adjustment. Among the sample of first year students attending Millennium Medical College (n = 98), there was a statistically significant difference between males and females in the subscales of academic adjustment and institutional attachment adjustment. There was no statistical significant difference between males and females for overall adjustment, and subscales of social and personal-emotional adjustment. Conclusion: Adjusting to college classes, associated work load, managing study time, and new living arrangements (dormitory) were the major associated factors for students’ experiencing an adjustment problem. Enhancing the quality of student services, increasing the availability of resources and services for students, strengthening campus counseling center, and increasing positive staff-student interaction will assist in mitigating an adjustment problem. As well, this study needs to be replicated in different geographical locations with different student populations to seek generalizability of the tool.

Keywords: Adjustment problem, First year students, Prevalence

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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank all participants for their willingness in supporting and giving important information.

Author Contributions
Almaz Seid – Substantial contributions to conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis and interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Hadgu Gerensea – Substantial contribution to conception and design, Analysis and interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Final approval of the version to be published
Girma Lemma – Substantial contribution to conception and design, Analysis and interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Final approval of the version to be published
Patricia Malloy – Substantial contribution to conception and design, Analysis and interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Final approval of the version to be published
Guarantor of submission
The corresponding author is the guarantor of submission.
Source of support
None
Conflict of interest
Authors declare no conflict of interest.
Copyright
© 2017 Almaz Seid et al. This article is distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original author(s) and original publisher are properly credited. Please see the copyright policy on the journal website for more information.


ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Hadgu Gerensea is Lecturer and Department Head of Neonatal Nursing at Aksum University College of Health Science and Referral Hospital, Aksum, Ethiopia. He earned undergraduate degree of Nursing from Wolaita Sodo University, College of Health Science and postgraduate degree in Pediatric and Child Health Nursing from Addis Ababa Univerity, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He has published more than 15 research papers in national and international academic journals and authored one book. His research interests include under five year malnutrition and clinical trials. E-mail: hadguellen1@gmail.com; hadgugerensea2015@gmail.com


Almaz Seid is Care Giver and Director of in Patient at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Teaching Hospital. She earned undergraduate degree of nursing and postgraduate degree in adult health nursing from Addis Ababa Univerity, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She has published more than four research papers in national and international academic journals. Her research interests include compassionate and respectful care. E-mail: almaz15@gmail.com


Sofia Haitami is Assistant Professor, Department of Oral Surgery and Pathology, Faculty of Dentistry of Casablanca, Morocco. E-mail: shaik.ajas@gmail.com


Girma Lemma School of education and behavioral studies, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.


Patricia MalloyCollege of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon Saskatchewan.