Self-efficacy and academic performance: A Longitudinal Study with Nursing Students in Higher Education

This research analyzes the following research problem. Upon entering college, students may experience variations in their levels of self-efficacy, either increasing or decreasing it, which could explain poor performance, weak commitment, dropout, and course withdrawal as self-efficacy levels may decline. A more accurate analysis of this situation is needed to identify whether progressing through the course promotes changes in self-efficacy levels in order to provide input for further studies on the phenomena involved in the variation of self-efficacy throughout nursing courses. Our hypothesis is that nursing program entrants may already enter the program with low levels of self-efficacy or, if their levels are high, it is possible that specific factors are acting as variables, affecting undergraduates and interfering with their levels of self-efficacy. There may be some correlation between levels of self-efficacy and sociodemographic variables. This study aims to assess self-efficacy, using the Self-Efficacy Scale in Higher Education (AEFS), based on the Theory of Self-Efficacy in Higher Education, among new students in the FAMERP Nursing program and to determine the influence of the formal curriculum on this motivation during the program.