Associations Between Occupational Therapy Students’ Approaches to Studying and Their Academic Grade Results: A Cross-Sectional and Cross-Cultural Study

Abstract

Students’ approaches to studying are generally viewed as essential for their learning outcomes and are often described as being either deep, strategic or surface. However, research on associations between study approaches and academic outcomes among occupational therapy students are rare, as are studies that include cross-cultural comparisons. The objective of this study was to assess the degree to which the deep, strategic, and surface approaches to studying were associated with occupational therapy students’ grade point average, in the total sample and when stratified by country, while controlling for age, gender and time spent on independent study. Seven hundred and twelve students from four countries (Australia, Norway, Hong Kong, and Singapore) completed the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students, and sum scores were calculated for the deep, strategic, and surface scales. Linear regression analyses were used to investigate associations between scale scores and grade point average, in the total sample and within each of the four sub-samples. The results showed that in the total sample, and in the Australia and Singapore sub-samples, none of the scales was associated with grade point average. In Hong Kong, lower deep approach scores and higher strategic approach scores were associated with higher grade point average. In Norway, higher strategic approach scores and lower surface approach scores were associated with higher grade point average. The study found that the approaches to studying scales were relevant for understanding academic performance among occupational therapy students in Norway and Hong Kong, but appeared less useful in the Australian and Singapore contexts.

Keywords

• academic performance
• approaches to studying
• cross-cultural study
• grade point average
• higher education