Factors associated with the academic performance of Nutrition students at a public university in southern Brazil

SOAR, Claudia; SALLES, Vitória de Resende; FILIPINI, Richard Emanuel; CORRÊA, Leila Schumacher; HINNING, Patrícia de Fragas

doi:10.1590/1678-9865202235e210120

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ORIGINAL • Rev Nutr 35 • 2022 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-9865202235e210120 copy

Factors associated with the academic performance of Nutrition students at a public university in southern Brazil

Fatores associados ao desempenho acadêmico de estudantes de Nutrição de uma universidade pública do sul do Brasil

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

Objective

To assess the association of socioeconomic factors, characteristics of the academic trajectory, and curriculum of students of a Nutrition course in the academic performance in the Exame Nacional de Desempenho dos Estudantes.

Methods

A study of cross-sectional panels with secondary data (Exame Nacional de Desempenho dos Estudantes 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019) of 174 graduating students was carried out. Academic performance was classified into two groups, one with a score below the median and another above the median. The differences in median scores according to the variables were tested using the Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, or non-parametric trend analysis. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association of the score variable with the other variables. The analyses were carried out using the Stata version 13.0 program, using a value of p<0.05 for the statistical decision.

Results

It was observed that the profile of graduating students was composed mainly of female individuals (92.5%), self-declared white (90.8%), and mostly coming from private schools (65.8%). Those who had some type of income obtained a higher score in Exame Nacional de Desempenho dos Estudantes compared to those who did not have an income (61.8 vs. 57.4, respectively, p=0.010), and the curricular change seems to be the main variable in the chances of obtaining a score above the median of the course (OR: 1.92, p=0.046).

Conclusion

Financial status and curriculum change were associated with the academic performance of the assessed students. These results can be used as a reference for investigations in other institutions, public or private, of different courses and, thus, assist in planning more effective educational policies.

Keywords
Academic performance; Educational measurement; Nutrition

Variable		n	%
Age (years old)
	≤23	97	55.8
	>23	77	44.2
Sex
	Female	161	92.5
	Male	13	07.5
Self-declared color/ethnicity
	White	158	90.8
	Non-white	16	09.2
Mother’s level of education (years of schooling)
	<9	54	31.0
	9 to 11	46	26.4
	>11	74	42.5
Living situation
	Alone	17	09.8
	With parents, relatives, spouse, children	106	60.9
	With other people in shared housing	51	29.3
Total household income (in MW)
	Up to 3	44	25.4
	3 to 10	84	48.6
	>10	45	26.0
Employment status
	Not employed	100	57.8
	< 20 hours per week	32	18.5
	≥ 20 hours per week	41	23.7
Financial condition
	I have no income	98	56.3
	I have some income	76	43.7
Number of books read in the last year
	0	17	9.8
	1-2	63	36.4
	3-5	70	40.5
	≥6	23	13.3
Year participating in ENADE
	2004	29	16.7
	2007	12	6.9
	2010	35	20.1
	2013	29	16.7
	2016	36	20.7
	2019	33	18.9
Receiving grant during the undergraduate course
	No grant	15	15.3
	SI, monitoring, extension, another grant	68	69.4
	PET grant	15	15.3
Form of admission to the university
	Broad competition	69	70.4
	Affirmative action policies	29	29.6
Type of school in high school
	Public	54	34.2
	Private	104	65.8
Curriculum
	Old	76	43.7
	Current	98	56.3
Score in Enade		59.3	51.5-65.2
Below median		51.4	45.8-55.7
Above median		65.2	61.9-70.3

Variable		ENADE Score		p-value
Variable		Median	P25-P75	p-value
Age (years old)
	≤23	60.40	52.9-67.1	0.070^* * Mann-Whitney test,
	>23	58	50.6-64.5
Sex
	Male	58.40	51.2-63.3	0.569^* * Mann-Whitney test,
	Female	59.40	52.6-65.2
Self-declared color/ethnicity
	White	59.55	51.8-65.6	0.405^* * Mann-Whitney test,
	Non-white	57.20	47.7-61
Mother’s level of education (years of schooling)
	<9	58.50	52.0-62.4	0.207^ Kruskal-Wallis test,
	9 to 11	58.30	52.6-64.5
	>11	60.70	50.6-67.5
Living situation
	Alone	58.90	49.6-67.7	0.896^ Kruskal-Wallis test,
	With parents, relatives, spouse, children	59.40	51.0-65.1
	With other people in shared housing	59.30	52.7-66
Total household income (in MW)
	Up to 3	58.80	50.9-64.2	0.686^* ***** Non-parametric trend test; (n=174).
	3 to 10	59.10	52.7-65.1
	>10	59.90	50.4-66.4
Employment status
	Not employed	59.50	50.4-65.1	0.573^* ***** Non-parametric trend test; (n=174).
	<20 hours per week	59.00	50.5-68.7
	≥20 hours per week	58.00	53.1-67.1
Financial condition
	I have no income	57.40	49.6-63.8	0.010^* * Mann-Whitney test,
	I have some income	61.80	54.6-67.1
Number of books read in the last year
	0	58.40	53.1-62.7	0.103^ Kruskal-Wallis test,
	1 or 2	61.30	55.2-67.6
	3 to 5	58.00	49.3-64.9
	≥6	56.60	47.3-62.1
Receiving grant during the undergraduate course
	No grant	53.80	46.6-66.0	0.210^ Kruskal-Wallis test,
	SI, monitoring, extension, another grant	61.00	53.4-67.1
	PET grant	61.50	56.7-72.5
Form of admission to the university
	Broad competition	60.80	53.4-67.1	0.905^* * Mann-Whitney test,
	Affirmative action policies	59.60	51.9-66.9
Type of high school
	Public	58.90	50.9-62.4	0.274^* * Mann-Whitney test,
	Private	60.70	52.7-66.9
Curriculum
	Old	57.60	50.4-64	0.051^* * Mann-Whitney test,
	Current	60.70	52.7-67.1

Variable		Gross model (n=174)		Model 1 (n=174)		Model 2 (n=98)
Variable		OR	p-value	OR	p-value	OR	p-value
Age (years old)
	≤23	ref.		ref.		ref.
	>23	0.60	0.094	0.70	0.264	0.74	0.511
Sex
	Male	ref.		-		-
	Female	1.66	0.391
Self-declared color/ethnicity
	White	ref.		ref.		ref.
	Non-white	0.42	0.140	0.43	0.157	0.34	0.174
Mother’s education (years of schooling)
	<9	ref.		ref.		ref.
	9 to 11	1.33	0.477	1.07	0.875	0.89	0.846
	>11	2.02	0.054	1.77	0.134	0.73	0.593
Living situation
	Alone	ref.		-	-	-	-
	With parents, relatives, spouse, children	1.22	0.822
	With other people in shared housing	1.17	0.780
Total household income (in MW)
	Up to 3	ref.		-	-	-	-
	3 to 10	1.04	0.907
	>10	1.25	0.597
Employment status
	Not employed	ref.		-	-	-	-
	<20 hours per week	0.92	0.844
	>20 hours per week	0.72	0.383
Financial Status
	I have no income	ref.		ref	-	ref	-
	I have some income	1.60	0.127	1.67	0.107	1.99	0.122
Number of books read in the last year
	None	ref.		-	-	-	-
	1 or 2	1.71	0.329
	3 to 5	0.89	0.837
	≥6	0.72	0.616
Receiving grant during the undergraduate course
	No grant	ref.		^*	^*	ref.
	SI, monitoring, extension, another grant	3.04	0.065			2.49	0.153
	PET grant	4	0.074			2.72	0.227
Form of admission to the university
	Admission by broad competition	ref.		-	-	-	-
	Admission through affirmative action policies	0.98	0.798
Type of high school
	Public	ref.		-	-	-	-
	Private	1.31	0.427
Curriculum
	Old	ref.		ref.		^*	^*
	Current	1.94	0.033	1.92	0.046

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[1] Correspondence to: C SOAR. E-mail: claudia.soar@ufsc.br.