Themes identified
Social health refers to the ability of an individual to establish appropriate interpersonal relationships with other people and also relates to the capability of comfortably adapting to a range of social situations by acting appropriately. This essay will analyse four interviews and will identify three themes, namely stress, financial situation and satisfaction.
Stress- It refers to the ability of the body to respond to any threats or demanding situations, upon sensing danger, whether imaginary or real. This results in a fight or flight response of the body, which in turn results in the manifestation of behaviour that directly affect the coping mechanisms. Stress has been identified in all participants, following their interview. While A (pseudonym) experienced stressful events while managing his work and placement, due to lack of time management skills, L (pseudonym) also faced similar stressful events in the process of creating a balance between the work and play activities such as, cricket and soccer. A said “Most of the time it’s hard to manage all the stuff … end up with mental breakdown things and gives me lot of stress and worry about future”. On the other hand, T said “I go to the gym regularly as well because as an international student there is lot of stress of finding balance between and work….”
Failure to strike a balance between family and study life was also identified as a significant stressor from R’s (pseudonym) responses. R said “…but as there is lot happening at same time and builds up and stresses me up a lot.” However, the fact that time management skills help in prioritizing work and reduce stress levels was supported by Y’s (pseudonym) responses. Y responded “I would say just having a timetable and to do list every single day helps a lot…..”
Finances- Financial stress acts as one of the major stressors on all kinds of social relationship and can also create major effects on health and wellbeing of an individual. Lack of working time due to the current status of being a student contributed to financial stress in A and L, owing to the fact that their studentship imposes restrictions on the time that they can devote to working in Australia. A said that “… because I am an international student and not being able to work more than those hours does cause stress and anxiety because I do get financial issues as well” In addition, T said, “I can’t work more than 20 hours every week …. this does make things hard for me financially ….”
Themes summarized
This often contributes to compromising their studies over work. However, it can be deduced from R’s responses that studies have gained a priority over work, owing to the fact that adequate financial help is provided by the family. According to R, “When it comes to choosing between studies and work, I would definitely compromise work over studies…” Furthermore, an analysis of the responses suggest lack of any financial pressure on Y due to the fact that the student lives with parents, who provide the necessary support to combat stressful situations. Y said, “…so living with parents obviously helps me in everything like studying and also financially, emotionally …..”
Satisfaction- Life satisfaction acts an overall assessment on the attitudes and feelings of an individual’s life at a particular point of time. An overview of the interview responses suggest that there is lack of life satisfaction in A, and L due to their perceived failure in balancing their personal and professional lives. According to A, “I am not satisfied at all with portion of time I give to each activity … I feel like I lack or collapse somewhere in between….” T also stated, “I am not extremely satisfied with the way I live my life as I believe I can have better time management skills….”
Y also provided responses that suggested lack of life satisfaction due to continuous procrastination that led to distress. Y stated “…procrastination was the first thing that I had to face your first year…” Reduced satisfaction can be attributed to the fact that the students were unable to cope with the stressful situations, prevailing in their surroundings that added to their woes. However, R was quite satisfied with the way the life had shaped up due to the personal approaches and attitudes that were adopted to cope with stressful events. According to R, “Yes I am, it’s about attitude and the way you look at and approach everything in your life….”
Thus, it can be deduced from the responses that stress, financial burden and dissatisfaction with life can create an adverse impact on the life, by resulting the onset of panic and anxiety that would directly lead to poor health outcomes. There is a need to identify and adopt appropriate coping strategies to eliminate the significant stressful events that threaten a healthy social life.
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Methods comments |
Transcript |
Preliminary analysis |
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Interviewer: What do you study? |
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I study Bachelor of nursing. |
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Interviewer: Why did you choose this topic? |
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I choose the topic because both my father and my mother are doctor, so since childhood I am very much into health studies as I get inspired from my family and I choose nursing over medicine because my grandmother died due to dementia and her nurse was so caring therefore those experience was really overwhelming for me that’s why I choose this topic and help put patients when they need most which makes me feel better about my future. |
Suggests parents had an influence on the career decision of this student. Care exhibited by a nursing professional also created an effect. Does it occur in all instances? |
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Are you a local student or international student? |
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I am exchange(international) student. |
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How many hours do you study each week, and does it vary each week? |
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I don’t know exact figure, that how many hours I study in a week because it does vary each week because of my work and sometimes my social life also effects my study. And yeah it does vary because of work and social life, sometimes I do two work shifts and sometimes three so it’s hard to go with timetable as sometimes uncertainties take place. Even though I am international student and I must pay my rents and other expenses as well, so I can’t corporate with my work and there is so much need to balance my finances which sometimes takes better of me as well. |
Suggests, the student’s study hours are getting affected by social life. |
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How many subjects are you studying? |
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I study four topics in this semester, So I am a full-time student. |
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What year student are you? |
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2nd year. |
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The student might think I consider him incompetent of balancing between work |
As a health student how do you manage balance of working and doing placements? |
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It’s too hard to manage both work and placements on same time, as a student you should do your assignments but on other hand you should pay your rent as well. Its challenging face of my life and I make some plan to face that challenge. As assignments only take place on week days so I mostly prefer to do work on weekends and placements on weekdays and if I need to do job on weekdays I do night shift so I will overcome both placement and work on same time and do pending work and assignments on weekends. Most of the time it’s hard to manage all the stuff because each day seems very full as you just can’t give time to yourself and its end up with mental breakdown things and gives me lot of stress and worry about future As I sometimes think if government laws will allow me to live or work here. |
There is difficulty in striking a balance between work, study and expenses |
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The question might show my biasness |
What are your strategies for coping stress? |
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Sometimes I find it difficult to go through this as I have no other option than just taking stress because being an international student If I don’t have time to catch up woth friends there is simply no room for it and have to keep working and studying to manage my finances so basically there is not much time to overcome stress and relax. |
Suggests, enough coping strategies are not being used |
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How many hours do you work each week? |
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I do 20 hours in a week. Therefore, one big shift and two small shift as I have an restriction of working because I am an international student and not being able to work more than those hours does cause stress and anxiety because I do get financial issues as well. |
Suggests, international students face several restrictions while working part-time that leads to financial problems |
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Do you play any social sport or do any other social event or participate in cultural events? |
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Yes, I do play cricket and indoor soccer sometimes. Most of the time I try to avoid social event or cultural events because it’s hard for me to carry everything on same time as I need to do study, placements and work, but I do participate in social sports when I get chance because it is one strategy help me in coping with stress and sometime of worrying and thinking about study and work. |
Suggests, the student has an interest in outdoor activities |
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How do you manage time for family and other life while working and studying? |
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It’s hard to manage time for family while study or working because whenever you find free time you try to spend on assignments so you get good grades from assignments. As I am an international student so all I need to try to find time for video call to my parents and I try to do that at night because in my home country time is different from Australia. I basically try to divide time in portion so I get idea when I am free for study or call back to my country but at the end I mix up everything and won’t be able to talk with my parents for week or couple of week. Working sometimes also become priority as I have to pay all the fees on my own before spending time with family or friends or talking to family over phone and same with studying as well. |
Suggests, study pressure creates an impact on social and family relationships |
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It might indicate I am considering the student not worthy of balancing work and study simultaneously |
What about if you compromise study over work or do u compromise your work (financially) over study? If you choose one of them why and how do you choose or make decision about your priorities? |
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That’s the most difficult scenario I face now because as an International student I do need to do work for my rents and other expenses but on other hand study is much important for me because my whole future is depend on study. In most of the occasions I compromise my work over study because when placements take place its getting hard to take everything together like study and work. In that case, I choose night or weekend shifts so I will able to take my work with me as well. Basically, I compromise myself and my social life over study and work, I only sleep 4 to 5 hours in a day so I will cover everything study and work. If situation is coming that I need to choose I choose study over work because my future is fully depending on my studies so I just can’t compromise with my studies because I just can’t put my future on fire or danger so in that situation my family help me with my expenses so I give my 100% on my studies. |
Suggests, the student finds it difficult to balance between study, work and social life |
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What have you changed from 1st to 2nd to 3rd year which helped you managing better and what were your learning experiences? |
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I am 2nd year student, basically 1st year is hard for me because I was new in Australia and study pattern is totally different from my home country that’s why it took too long to me to catch up everything. I find difficulties in assignments and topic guides even though sometimes I was miss my lecture or tute due to bus service because I was live in opposite part of city and it took too long to me to reach university. In 2nd year yes, I overcome this failure but life is getting harder because placements takes place as well I find job as well so I again mix everything and its end up with mental breakdown. I wish I overcome everything in yarer 3 so I will aware about time managing before completing my degree. |
International students take a lot of time to acclimatise to foreign lands |
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How do you manage your finances? |
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My Family help me to manage my finance and I even do work so that income also help me to manage my rents and other expenses, but it is a big issue for me because international student fees are very high, and it is one of the major reason of stress and will be throughout my international student life. |
Suggests, family support plays an essential role in coping with stress |
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Do you have to pay for any study services? |
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Yeah, I need to pay for study because I am exchange student, so I pay 15000$ for 6 months only for studies and my other expenses like student card or other universities fees and books are different plus all other living expenses. |
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What are your general struggles about balancing work, life and study and how do you overcome any of the problems you face regarding that? |
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My general struggle is time management because I must do a lot in less time so it’s hard to manage everything for me. If I try to balance my social life then I am lack down my work and study and if I try to give more time to study then I need compromise with my work and my social life and if so I spend more time for work then it will affect my study and social life as well. I guess to overcome this problem I need to manage my time beautifully so I take advantage of every single minute of my life. But managing time is such a big challenge because sometimes unfortunate situation occurs at that time you must compromise study over work or social life or work over social life and study so I am stressed about all the situation because really don’t want to put myself in that situation where I find mental disorders or something like that. |
Suggests, lack of appropriate time management skills can act as barriers |
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If these things get on you at same time what do you prioritise to do first and why and how do manage around these things? And IF you are stressed about these things how do you cope with these things? |
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If this thing come to me on same time then it’s going to be hell moment for me because everything has their own priorities at some amount of time so it’s hard to choose one but as I told you study is my priority so I choose study over work, social life or myself as well and try to keep myself in that situation from where I find everything perfect for me. Basically, I go to gym and try to relax my mind while doing exercise and blast out my anger and stress on exercise. I find gym is my best friend because whenever I am depressed or stressed I spend many hours in gym and get out from gym with smile so yeah gym help me to overcome everything. And secondly my father is biggest pillar of my life he gives me motivation to do my best in every situation and give guidelines to follow and tie up everything together. As he is doctor so he already goes through from that situation so he provides me such an important guideline which help to cope with stressed as well. |
Prioritisation of tasks is an essential aspect that helps to lead a satisfied life |
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Do you participate in social cultural activities or any another sport activity? If yes How often and IF no why is that because you can’t find time from study, life and work balance? |
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I try to avoid social culture activities because of less time but I do participate in sports like cricket and soccer because sports help me to reduce study stress. Not often I participate in sports event because if I do so it’s going to be hard for me to tackle everything together on same time, so on some special events I play sports. Yeah basically it’s because of my studies and work because I already have limited time so I just can’t bother to spend time on any other activity. |
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Living situations? Living with family or alone? How does that affect you study, work and other life activities and how does it affect you as human? |
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I live without my family, and yeah it effects a lot because I need time to cook for me or washing dishes and other basic requirements of life as well. I feel like if I live with my family I never find such difficulties and easily tackle my social life and study or work and family even help me to reduce my stress as well. It affects me lot because as a human sometimes you need moral support and you need someone who push you to do all the stuff, I really miss that motivation and caring. Due to that my stress level increases rapidly and suffer mental breakdowns. |
Distance from the family creates significant effects on the overall health and wellbeing |
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How does your student participation in Uni effected by work and other life commitments? |
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I am not able give my 100% in any university activities because of my busy schedule with my work and study. Last year I was elected as an international officer for FUSA but due to work and social life I was not able to proceed my position further, so yeah work and social activities effect my university activities. |
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It might indicate I have some preconceived notion that the student is not able to maintain balance between his family and academic life |
How do you find time for family out of these three and what do you sacrifice to make up time for family? Give Reasons? |
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For finding time for family is quite a difficult for me at present time because of busy schedule so I compromise my sleep to talk with my family and give same amount of time to and work. If in future I must compromise something then I will compromise my family because they do know that for my better future my studies and work means a lot to me so I know my family will support me in this decision and appreciate that decision. |
Hectic schedules often make it difficult to balance between professional and personal life |
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By trying to find balance among study, work and life How to you cope with stress and how do you try to balance if something’s going out of control? |
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Balancing everything at the same time is biggest challenge and for coming out of that stress I will talk with my father about that and he provide me such a good idea, as my father is biggest motivation and role model for myself. I do gym as well because that stress and anger motivate me to do more exercise so I try to spend time in gym. Even though I do poetry as well so I will start writing some poetry about positivity and motivation which help me to face challenges in future. And if anything, going opposite or out of balance I try to do work on that and divided small portion of time in different things so I will balance everything in future and if I still suffering from same thing then I take help from my father and university motivation team which provide such a great idea. |
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Overall are you satisfied with amount of time you share for each of managing work, study and life? IF yes or NO? Give your reasons? |
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I am not satisfied at all with portion of time I give to each activity, even though I try balance everything but still I feel like I lack or collapse somewhere in between, might be its because of stress of studies or workload. I wish I can find the appropriate way to balance everything so in future I am jump out from stress and workload level. |
Interview transcript for A
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Method comments |
Transcript |
Detailed analysis |
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What do you study? |
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I am studying Bachelor of Health Sciences, at Flinders University. |
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Why did you choose this topic? |
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I chose this topic because I studied health topics like biology in my high school and also, I want to settle down in Australia and Australian government is comparatively lenient in granting permanent residency to people in these arears of study as there is growing need of health care professionals in the country due to ageing population. |
Suggests, the student has some pre-conceived notions about the benefits that the Australian government offers to foreign students |
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Are you a local student or international student? |
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I am an international student from India. I came to Australia in April 2017. I finished high school in India and next year, I came to Australia as the paperwork does take a bit of time to be completed to be enrolled as an international student. |
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How many hours do you study each week, and does it vary each week? |
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I usually study about 15-20 hours every week as at the moment, I feel like this is enough for me to cover all the topics. I just try to do my university stuff on time so that I do not have to put in long hours during some particular week. But yeah, whenever there is some assignment etc. due then I do put in more time than this as I have to catch up with other people in the university to do group projects. |
Suggests, the student is quite sincere about studies and is sure of the capabilities |
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How many subjects are you studying? |
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Since I am an international student, I always do four topics every semester as I have to finish my course in the assigned time limit, which is actually my student visa time limit. So, this semester as well, I am doing four topics. |
The student might be under pressure |
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The student might think I consider him/her incompetent of balancing between work |
As a health student how do you manage balance of working and doing placements? |
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Since I am a first-year student, so I have not done any placements yet. Besides that, I can say that I try to juggle between my jobs all the time as I have to assign some time to my studies, social life and other commitments like volunteer work as well. So, I just try to schedule my work on the days when I don’t have to go the university and I study on the days when I go to university for lectures/tutorials. Most of the times, I end up working night shifts as that gives me some time in the day as well to do household chores and most of the time I don’t get much time to sleep as well which as health student I should understand that its not good for mental and physical health. |
Suggests, the student is trying to strike a balance between work, studies and social life |
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How many hours do you work each week? |
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I usually work 20 hours every week, but it can be less depending on my availability or my employer’s needs. I am training to be a shift manager at a McDonald’s store and also, drive Uber on the weekends occasionally if I feel like and have some hours left from my working rights’ limit which is only 20 hours a week because I am an international student. I also try to volunteer and have joined some social clubs that help other people in different ways. |
The student takes efforts to have a social life, apart from his academic background |
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The question might show my biasness |
Do you play any social sport or do any other social event? |
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Yes, I do play some indoor soccer in the university. I am part of an indoor soccer club who participate in a small tournament. I play weekly with these guys. In addition to it, I also play cricket with my mates. I also have a membership of Goodlife Health Club so I go to the gym regularly as well because as an international student there is lot of stress of finding balance between and work and by doing these activities it helps in coping stress. |
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It might indicate I am considering the student not worthy of balancing work and study simultaneously |
How do you manage time for family and other life while working and studying? |
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I try to go out with my family members every weekend just to spend some time with them. I make sure I have one day off during every weekend for this. This helps me to find some time for myself as well to relax down so that I do not burn myself out very soon in the coming years. Although, I must add I had thought very hard about it and then only made this decision of having one day off during the week as in my early days, I used to just run around all the time and I had few health issues as well then because of too much wearing out myself. |
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What about if you compromise study over work or do you compromise your work (financially) over study? If you choose one of them why and how do you choose or make decision about your priorities? |
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I never compromise my studies for work or to earn more as my primary motive to come to Australia was to study well. Also, I can’t work more than 20 hours every week as that is the limit where I am locked out according to the rules of immigration. However, this does make things hard for me financially as I can only earn a limited amount with this. So, because of these confined working conditions, I sometimes end up compromising my studies over my work. |
The student is quite serious about his students |
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What have you changed from 1st to 2nd semester which helped you managing better and what were your learning experiences? |
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I am into my second semester now so I have developed some techniques to manage my time and work-study-life balance better. I have a day off as I already said every week. I schedule my routines and have time table in such a manner that I do have one day when I am not really working or studying although I do sometimes volunteer on these day offs. Besides that, I try to go out, play soccer/ cricket and go to the gym as well which gives me time for the things that relax me a bit and take my attention away from deadlines and stress. |
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How do you manage your finances? |
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I try to pay for all of my living expenses myself but it is obviously very hard to do with limited income. I, sometimes, have to let go of some of my inner desires like buying something expensive because of this.I do work full-time hours during vacations which help me to save some money which I later use during the semester. All of my tuition fees comes from my parents in India, part of it, though, also comes from my education loan back with a bank in India |
The student has high self-esteem and tries to be independent |
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Do you have to pay for any study services on that loan then ? |
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As some of my tuition fees comes from an education loan so I pay regular interest on the amount that I have used until now. Sometimes, my parents have to pay this interest if I am not able to save enough. I will have to return the amount used from the education loan as well, once I finish my degree. |
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It might indicate I am considering the student not worthy of balancing work and study simultaneously |
What are your general struggles about balancing work, life and study and how do you overcome any of the problems you face regarding that? |
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Generally, I do find it very hard on some days of the week to get enough time for sleep. So, I am always like either sleep deprived or I over-sleep. It is because usually what happens is that, my university and my work people call me on the same days and then I end up going at university in the day and work at nights. Also, I have realised I am not able to concentrate fully at times at the tasks in hand at work because of lack of rest or my mind being pre-occupied with many things. In order to tackle these issues, I try to find and create gaps between my work and study timings and also, try to do other stuff like sports, gymming, etc. which keep me away from the hard routines. Also, I like to go out every week as I had already stated so that I experience new things and spend some time with the people around me so that makes me happy as well and take me away from stress and regular routines. |
Suggests the student is taking efforts to remain organised |
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The question might show my biasness |
If all of these things get on you at same time what do you prioritise to do first and why and how do manage around these things? And IF you are stressed about these things how do you cope with these things? |
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When two or more things arise simultaneously, then I prioritise my studies over work always because I am good at studies and I enjoy what I study as well so I believe I will be in this field for many years of my life so that is why I always give priority to my studies. But yeah, I do have to compromise either the amount of money I earn or my future work shifts because of that as it ends messing my usual routine. When I do get stressed, then all I do is just do. If I have an assignment pending then I just finish it off in one go or if I have to go to work without sleeping then I just go without giving it a second thought. I operate like this because I know that this is not for a lifetime, rather it is just for these 3-4 years and then I will be done. |
Suggests implementation of appropriate strategies to cope with stress |
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Do you participate in social cultural activities or any another activity? If yes How often and IF no why is that because you can’t find time from study, life and work balance? |
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I do play soccer and cricket as I already told you. I also go to the gym to maintain my fitness levels. But, to be honest, I do not do all these activities on a regular basis as at times, I have to adjust my days in relation to university stuff or say someone falls sick at work. So, I can say that I would like to spend more properly designated time to these activities as these are some things that I really enjoy. |
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The question might show my biasness |
Living situations? Living with family or alone? How does that affect you study, work and other life activities and how does it affect you as human? |
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I am living with a couple whom I call my family here in Adelaide. They are very supportive and friendly. But all of my immediate family members live back in India. I do miss them a lot at times as there are times when you want to talk to someone trustworthy but there is no one around. So, this thing does make me feel homesick at times. It does affect my studies as I actually am not able to concentrate properly a what happens is that a particular thing gets stuck in your head and it does not go away because you have not talked it out with someone and it gets so high on you and cause problems in living life and studying. |
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The question might show my biasness |
How does your student participation in Uni effected by work and other life commitments? |
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I am not really able to participate in any of the student related participations like any social club meetings or say any ISS (International Student Services) get togethers. It leads to losing of some chances to develop industry or friendly connections. I also do not communicate enough with my parents back in India. This is another area which I need to work upon. During my first semester, I only used to come to university to attend classes so that obviously has an effect on how many friends I have. |
Lack of interpersonal skills and communication skills |
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It might indicate I have some preconceived notion that the student is not able to maintain balance between his family and academic life |
How do you find time for family out of these three and what do you sacrifice to make up time for family? Give reasons? |
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I usually end up sacrificing my family or work time for my studies rather than the other way around. It surely does affect my life positively as some of my friends do think that I am bit of an arrogant person who just ignores them all the time but it is more about not having enough time to catch up with everyone. |
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By trying to find balance among study, work and life How to you cope with stress and how do you try to balance if something going out of balance? |
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In order to cope with stress, I just try to get the stuff done, whatever is stressing me out. Also, I am very interactive, so I talk it out with people which relaxes my mind as well. Also, I try to keep myself fit which also affects my mental wellbeing positively. If something does go out of hands, then I try to contact the people whom I need to report to, say my topic coordinators in the university and my manager at work and try to find the root cause and ask for help so as to resolve the issue in question. |
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Overall are you satisfied with amount of time you share for each of managing work, study and life? IF yes or NO? Give your reasons? |
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I am not extremely satisfied with the way I live my life as I believe I can have better time management skills as I do waste my time on my mobile phone. I need to strike a better balance amongst my work-study-social life balance as it is very important for my well-being, since at the moment, I do feel tired all the time. It is usually because I do not have proper set up routines which affect my sleep patterns as well as my ability to carry out tasks. I also am not very emotionally satisfied with my life as I do not spend enough time with my friends/family which is vital to me as I am an emotionally engaging person. So, I agree that I need to work on my striking a balance in my daily life. |
Suggests the student is finding it difficult to manage work-personal life balance |
Interview transcript for L
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Methods comments |
Transcript |
Preliminary analysis |
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What do you study? |
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Bachelor’s of Nursing at Flinders University |
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Why did you choose this topic? |
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There are so many factors that I think go into choosing nursing as my career. I always wanted to do something in my career that is challenging, interesting and makes a difference in people’s lives on a daily basis. In the nursing profession, I deal with many aspects of patient care and it gives me great satisfaction to invest my time in an industry that is expanding and enriching patients lives every day and I always loved studying about human being and processes of human body and since school days I have been interested in studying something related t health and directed involve with patients. |
The challenging role of a nurse, love for the subject and the importance of the profession might have influenced career selection |
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Are you a local student or international student? |
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International Student and been in Australia from just over 2 years. How many hours do you study each week, and does it vary each week? |
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20-30 hours each week Yes it does, depending on how many assignments, topics and pre-readings do I have to do and in between my work commitments as well but most of the time I try to put in these amount of hours to get better grades as my prime reason to come here is to study but during holidays I get less chance to study because of work commitments as being international student this is the best chance to earn money. |
The student is focused on earning good grades |
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How many subjects are you studying? |
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Two subjects plus placements in between as well which is also part of subjects as well. |
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The student might think I consider him/her incompetent of balancing between work |
As a health student how do you manage balance of working and doing placements? |
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Honestly, working part-time as well as having family commitments while on placements nearly kills me every time. Even doing assignments while on placements are hellish and I totally burn out at the end of each one. Because I am international student I have working restrictions So I can’t work as much but still have but still I do while doing my placements because I have to pay for my fees as international students fees are very high comparing to local student. |
The student is under a lot of stress |
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How many hours do you work each week? 20 approx each week but this keeps changes a lot because of study commitments and it working hours increase a lot during holidays As I am allowed to work more during holidays. |
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Do you play any social sport or do any other social event or cultural events? |
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Not really because of time restrictions because of lot of study and work commitments. |
Academic pressure is creating a negative impact on social life |
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How do you manage time for family and other life while working and studying? |
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One of the most important resources that I have as I juggle all my responsibilities is my support system. My family, friends and employer are always backing me up with their 100%. I try to create a good balance between work/studies and life. Though, it takes a lot of efforts, but anything is possible when you have your support system at your side at all times but as there is lot happening at same time and builds up and stresses me up a lot. Sometimes taking time off actually makes things much better, it gives me strength to handle more pressure, and things start getting better from there onwards. |
Family support is serving a crucial role |
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The question might show my biasness |
What about if you compromise study over work or do u compromise your work (financially) over study? If you choose one of them why and how do you choose or make decision about your priorities? |
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When it comes to choosing between studies and work, I would definitely compromise work over studies. My reason is that I’m only going to be a student for around three years for this course perhaps more depending on my postgraduate study. I have rest of my life to work and make money. If studies are guaranteeing my dream job then it would always be my first priority I would use the remainder of my life to study, report on and then work in the areas that excite me. |
The student has realised the need of studying properly for a secure future |
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What have you changed from 1st to 2nd to 3rd year which helped you managing better and what were your learning experiences? |
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Through different years of college and nursing school, my interest and commitment to the field became even stronger as I found that I also had an aptitude for the work. I believe my ability to communicate with people and to explain things clearly in both a technical and non-technical way has got better that will make me a good nurse. As per my learning experiences as a nurse, I have had the opportunity to work in a variety of medical settings, and have enjoyed the experience of learning the routines in each type of facility. And as I said, it gives me great satisfaction to invest my time in an industry that is expanding and enriching patients lives every day. |
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How do you manage your finances? |
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I guess the course fees and other study costs are the biggest obstacles for international students but I’m fortunate enough to have family support that helps me with my finances. |
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Do you have to pay for any study services? |
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We (International students) basically pay for everything |
Suggests, international students might not be receiving any benefits |
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It might indicate I am considering the student not worthy of balancing work and study simultaneously |
What are your general struggles about balancing work, life and study and how do you overcome any of the problems you face regarding that? |
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Well, if you have a part-time job it’s inevitable that there will be times that your work, life and study schedules clash. I always keep in mind that why I chose to work while studying or to study while working, and stay focus on that goal. I believe that if your reason for studying is not compelling enough, then your ability to find balance will seem like a struggle. But I have a compelling enough ‘why’, so managing my priorities are still going to be a juggling act but ultimately I make it work. |
The student is quite conscious of his future plans and is able to prioritise his works and roles |
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The question might show my biasness |
If all of these things get on you at same time what do you prioritise to do first and why and how do manage around these things? And IF you are stressed about these things how do you cope with these things? |
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I think it’s a very subjective question and everyone will have different answers to it. For me, personal and/or family life never gets in between my studies or work and they don’t even overlap at any time. Family was always important for me so I don’t even compare them with other aspects of my life. Talking about priorities, as a full time student I must juggle the obligations of my personal/family life, work and studies. If I could invest an endless amount of time in every academic task, university would be easy. But because I can’t as deadlines and due dates are constantly looming, prioritising study is absolutely necessary for me. These things don’t stress me out as I know what would be my first priority if I get in this hypothetical situation. |
The student knows how to balance personal and professional life |
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Do you participate in social cultural activities or any another sport activity? If yes how often and IF no why is that because you can’t find time from study, life and work balance? |
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I would rather go and visit my few friends that I have than participating in social cultural or sports activities in free time. It has nothing to do with time but being an introvert my alone time comes sporadically. Also,it’s not that I’m shy or depressed. It’s just that I love solitude more than people and for me creativity mostly comes out of introversion and peace of solitude. |
Introvert nature prevents the student from having an exciting social life |
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Living situations? Living with family or alone? How does that affect you study, work and other life activities and how does it affect you as human? |
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Living with my brother. It doesn’t affect me from any perspective whether it’s study, work or other life activities. Having him in my life is great because he teaches me how to tap into my competitive side. As I try to succeed in any career path, this skill will become an asset. Also, he gives me a great insight into the male dominant world of competition which helps me in developing self-esteem and leadership skills. |
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The question might show my biasness |
How does your student participation in Uni affected by work and other life commitments? |
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Nothing has ever affected my uni participation. |
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It might indicate I have some preconceived notion that the student is not able to maintain balance between his family and academic life |
How do you find time for family out of these three and what do you sacrifice to make up time for family? Give Reasons? |
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I don’t have my family over here so I never needed to sacrifice time out of my study or work time. |
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Overall are you satisfied with amount of time you share for each of managing work, study and life? IF yes or NO? Give your reasons? |
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Yes I am, it’s about attitude and the way you look at and approach everything in your life. The thing is, I think I’m always a work in progress so I’m continuously learning how to manage time between everything effectively. |
Work prioritisation, time management skills and defined thoughts help in achieving satisfaction |
Interview transcript for R
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Method comments |
Transcript |
Detailed analysis |
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what do you study?
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I study Bachelor of Nursingat the moment
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why did you choose to study this topic?
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I was confused between doing medicine and midwifery, so the easiest option I got was doing nursing at the moment and then I’ll transfer into either paediatrics or midwifery.
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Suggests confusion regarding career choice |
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The student might think I consider him/her incompetent of balancing between work
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how do you balance your study and work at the moment?
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I study when I get chance as I work with NASA at the moment which is an agency, so I am usually I’m trying to balance my work and study doing less hours of work while I’m hectic with Uni assignments and then when I’m holidays I would work more so I will balance it out like that just working more hours during holidays and less hours while working.
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Less time is devoted to studies |
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What about your life at the same time as well?
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it’s pretty difficult to manage study work and social life usually I find time to do my assignments during weekends and weekdays I have Uni so social life I would really really depend on whether if I’m doing any hectic topics but usually I would catch up with my friends during holidays and mostly I won’t be able to.
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During the holidays and during the universitytime many hours do you put in to study each week and does it vary every week, or does it go down in the holidays?
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It does vary every week it also depends on how our balance and how I want to work. Frankly speaking I don’t if I’m not motivated I’m not going to do with that week If I am motivated to do much on weekend and same during holidays as well IF I am motivated I will get a lot of work done and I am not then I normally wait till assignment is due and it when I am more pressurised to do it.
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The student is not quite serious about studies |
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What motivates you do your study?
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Deadlines are key to motivation, Frankly I wanted to study something else at start but my parents forced me to study this as they think SA has better future in studying health than studying anything else as my family I am thinking of living long term in SA and thinking that I will live here in long term then I find motivation to study and learn something. So I usually try to do the same amount of hours every week but it varies in different manner if I’m actually get called by work then I’ll have to work a little put less effort into my studies then I’ll have to focus on my work hours and if I am if I’m balancing it out very very very well which is really a possibility then I’ll be able to manage work as well as my hours working.
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At this timeAre you full-time student?
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Full-time Student
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Are you going international student or local student?
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Local Student
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How many subjects do you study?
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Right now, I have four topic each semester
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It might indicate I am considering the student not worthy of balancing work and study simultaneously
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As a health student like I believe you have to do the placement as well how do you manage at the same time while working and doing the placement as well? |
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So, while doing placement I have to stop my work as full-time so last time I had to do six weeks of placement. I had to do full-time study replacements which was six week and I had to stop my work for seven weeks because I had to prepare for my placement so what I had to do was stop working for seven weeks and then I have to stop one more week after to do my placement assignments as well, so you can barely work while you’re on placement. |
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What about your social life at the same time when you doing placement?
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No there is no social life if friends come over for like half an hour maximum be able to give half an hour a week him but doing placements nine hours every day and just weekend the time which I have to give them touni because it at the same time I’ll be running with the different topics as well as assignments will be due at the time and we won’t be able to get extensions.
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Lack of social life due to academic pressure |
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while you’re not at your placements but you just doing your study how many hoursdo you prefer to work?
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I would want to work from 10 to 15 hours minimum but I try to sometimes I try to do 20 hours if I amahead with my studies but it also varies on my how much I’ve done my assignments and how much I have if I’ve got to complete in future for study and because obviously this is an agency works if I was free and I did not get work and if I’m really busy with uni and I’m getting work I cannot say no to work because I have not worked for like two weeks.
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The question might show my biasness
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How do you manage time for family at the same time as well when you doing a full-time study and you have to work as well?
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Family time is very minimal as there is lot to manage at same time and at same time family do understand that I am very busy at times and they do support me emotionally and every other way possible.
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Failure to strike a balance between work and family |
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The question might show my biasness
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What about you do you compromise study over work or do you just do you compromise your work over study like how do you balance that out?
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I’ll have to compromise my work over studies every time and even though if I’m in need with for money so just giving instalments I will have to still compromise my work over studies because it’s very very hectic the recommended hours for study over 60 hours a week in Uni as well as outside of Uni so cumulative 60 hours a week which is very very tough if I’m working as well as going to Uni so I always have to say no to work when I’m actually in uni doing assignments and when I’m doing assignments finding all the resources that is needed which is very tough so that consumes what a lot of time.
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What is changed from 1st year to 2nd year to3rd year of which helped you managing better and what were you learning experience throughout? |
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My learning was doing my pre-eatings would say but what has changed from first-year the second to 3rd year to manage all these things better what have you learned what have you gained from your experience that all you can manage these study work and life better? |
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I think first and second-year was just as normal because I wasn’t working at all so I’m I was able to study as well as spend time with family and social life was there because I wasn’t working a lot but I am at the end of second you have started working so balancing study work and social life is tough now, thing I have mostly learned was Balancing more started up having a timetable which like I would put out this time and him having a fake deadline was easier for me than having a real deadline save my and in actual assignment is due in 2 week that I would thinkit’s due in one week before that so that I’ll start my things early and heading to deadline a week before and plan my family time. |
The student is feeling more academic pressure and is becoming stressed |
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Do you have to pay any fees to Uni at the moment?
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No not at the moment I’ve got HEX
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How much you owe at HEX?
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Right now, I am on around 20,000 something OK
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Do you have to pay any services at all to uni?
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Just like ID cards if I need ID card anything but apart from that no HEXcovers all but Throughout Semester I do have to pay for my books as well.
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It might indicate I am considering the student not worthy of balancing work and study simultaneously
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If you do you have any struggles balancing these and how do you overcome them if you just all of a sudden its all got on top of you at the same time and how do you prioritize every single thing at the same time how do you overcome those them ?
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by having a timetable and having a mental break. Priority wise would be like I would give my work and I am studies first priority then I’ll give my family a priority of the list because they would understand as I am in 3rd student career is most important at the moment, so they would give me more time to study and work and they would be fine if I give them less time as a family. I hope there’s no such crisis that I have to drop my work and studies to give them priority but if that would be then I would compromise my studies and take from full-time to part time otherwise I’ll take a break from studying that’s how I look right now.
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The student knows how to implement appropriate time management skills |
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Do you normally while doing the study participate in social or cultural activities?
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No, I have not done any social or cultural activities.
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Is that because you can’t find time from study or work oh that’s just because you chose to?
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I was already teaching Bollywood dance to my students while working and going touni and keepon doing social stuff,so I wasn’t giving enough time to studyso social activities is very minimal now. I was studying full-time working at the same time, soI am prioritizing study, work any life in 3rd yearthan social activities I have to yet in order to finish and pass the topics which is 60 hours per week is not less.
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Lack of social activity can be associated with work and academic pressure. The student has realised the importance of prioritising studies |
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As undergraduate student would you still do the same thing in the first and the second year as well that he would try to study and work over your social life because or is it because it’s a 3rd year you doing this?
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Yes 3rd year is more hectic for me than my first and second year. If I had to change anything I would say balance of social life and work can be arranged by timetable and now I’m studying because social life is much more healthier for me to meet people have a conversation because if I was just studying and working out I used to get mental breakdowns and stuff but if I had a social life that give me some motivation had some give me some break from work and studies just to hang out with my friend just to relax that back so that is another option. If I’m studying future more I would prioritize having a social life much morethan just working.
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Suggests, the need of implementing appropriate time management skills has been understood |
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What are you living situation you live on your own and you live with your parents? |
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I live with my parents here. |
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The question might show my biasness
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Does that help you in balancing those things? |
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Yes of course like I won’t have to do my any work my mom cooks for me she does my laundry she does the dishes I have to help in certain ways when I’m home but that’s not much if I was living alone I have to do everything from scratch, some days if I’m not even able to help or do anything from morning till late if I want to sitting on the computer doing assignments I will still get feed and I will able to eat I’ll be able to test everything like everything will be on time but if I was living alone it would be struggle so living with parents obviously helps a in everything like studying and also financially, emotionally and also had to get to uni by car so dad just bought it for me because it was easier for me to travel an hour to go to Uni but going by bus was taking me two hours every day extra time and lot of time consumption. Another partis having emotionally backed up parentsand when I’m actually not in a state of doing anything my parents will give me something and emotional support when I’m actually need so having said that living with parents and being with the parents obviously helps |
Support from parents reduces a lot of stress and facilitates coping with challenging situations |
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what about your student participation at uniand any feelings about university life and how it’s going to change after you finish your degree and get graduated? |
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I would be happy to finish this degree because right now doing theory work is much more tough for me then doing practical so right now I’m doing my placement I’m enjoying so much that if I was onto working at the moment he would’ve been much better for me then doing theory work because it’s very tiring to work study manage every single other aspectsits tough for me but if I look in the way that if I just finish this degree and mentally stay strong to get it done and I will get job in my profession and I’ll be able to prioritize my other things and I’ll do something that I actually love which is social activities and lot of cultural activities such as I can resume dancing and teaching dancing. |
The student finds the nursing placements particularly difficult and challenging |
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So overall, by doing all this interview are you satisfied with the amount of time you share for each of managing work-study and life? |
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No |
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The question might show my biasness
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What can you do better or anything you can do which are you not doing at the moment to make these things work better what would you suggest beinga 3rd year students to undergraduate studentsso they can take anything from this and make things better for them? |
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I would say just having a timetable and to do list every single day helps a lot like I do and like for today no matter what you want to do list and take off the to do list helps a lot on procrastination was the first thing that I had to face your first year so I’m having to do list actually gives you an heads up like oh you still have these when he talks to finish today rather than leaving it safe, so first year just procrastinating at the end I would be end up with like that many tasks that I haven’t done having a to do list out helpsand realise I have done 5 or 6 tasks out of 10 which is actually give me motivation to finish more the next day so that would be and that’s another tactic to reduce your procrastination and that will also give you time to work as well as to spend time with your familyand to balance out your social life which is extremely important while studying because it reduces a lot of stress. |
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It might indicate I have some preconceived notion that the student is not able to maintain balance between his family and academic life
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How do you feel about what was your overall mental health while doing all this? what are the waysyou useto cope stress as you pretty much mention for the whole time that you do take a lot of stress and that happens to you a lot how do you cope with what are you coping strategies for the stress? |
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My coping strategies were none other than mental breakdowns but on the other hand my mom actually giving me emotional support when I have them at mental breakdowns she actually suggested me a very good ways just doing meditation every two times a day like 10 minutes eachin morning and evening gives you very own refreshments so it gives you step forward and then I think about it because it wasn’tworking or going according to plan and it gives you another opportunity to work on it but meditation helped me a lot getting through mental breakdowns. |
Support from parents, meditation are the most effective coping strategies adopted |
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