Sir Amiel.docx

NURSES’ LEVEL OF AWARENESS ON ASEAN INTEGRATION, ITS PROSPECTS THROUGH AEC POLICIES AND OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH ASEAN MRA ON NURSING SERVICES

Amiel Francisco Reyes, RN, MSN, LPT Medical Colleges of Northern Philippines Alimanao Hills, Pena Blanca, Cagayan

ABSTRACT The main goal of the study is to determine the level of awareness of nurses on ASEAN Integration, its prospects and opportunities, specifically in the hospital setting. The participants of the study are one hundred fifty-one (151) nurses in the local, secondary hospitals of Tuguegarao City. The researcher used the descriptive method of research using a self-made questionnaire. In light of the findings of the study, the following findings were drawn: the participants have fair awareness on Association of Southeast Asian Nations Integration (M=81.57); good awareness on the forthcoming changes that the ASEAN Economic Community may bring (M=85.82); and poor awareness on the Mutual Recognition Agreement on Nursing Services (M=79.69); there is a significant difference on the level of awareness on ASEAN Integration (M=81.57; f=4.08; p=0.0017 ); likewise, there is a significant difference on the level of awareness on ASEAN Mutual Recognition Agreement on Nursing Services (M=79.69 ;f=2.57; p=0.0403 ) according to the type of hospital they are affiliated to. In light of the findings and conclusions presented, the following recommendations are suggested: (a) that nurses in Tuguegarao City should improve their level of awareness on matters regarding ASEAN, (b) Hospital administrations should initiate awareness-raising strategies regarding ASEAN and (c) Collaboration among hospitals and related institutions should be done so as to be well-informed, well-adapted and harmonized with the changes in the health sector that the ASEAN may bring. Keywords: ASEAN Integration, awareness, nurses

INTRODUCTION ASEAN Integration is celebrating its 50th founding anniversary this 2017. Much has been done to realize the purposes of the regional integration. One of the earliest milestones of the Association was the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS) in 1995. It states that the member countries shall eliminate substantial restrictions to trade in services (AFAS, 1995). On June 14, 1997, the member countries signed a document that envisions a stable, prosperous and competitive ASEAN Economic Region. This was strengthened with the creation of the ASEAN Community. It has three pillars: politicalsecurity community, socio-cultural community and economic community. These were created to foster regional peace, strength and prosperity in the region (Bali Concord, 2003). Among the three pillars, much is emphasized on the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). The AEC envisions an ASEAN economy that is rich and stable among its ASEAN Member States (AMS). Further, it promotes free flow of goods, services, investments and

freer flow of capital, equal economic progress and decreased socio-economic disparities. These purposes were to be achieved by year 2020 (Bali Concord, 2003). But in 2007, the Association decided to accelerate the ASEAN Community by 2015. One of the priority professions of the ASEAN Integration in terms of free flow of labor and professionals is the nursing practice. The Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) for Nursing Services was signed on December of 2006. The MRAs aim is to aid movement of professional nurses in the ASEAN. The researcher asked several nurses in Tuguegrao City, Cagayan of their awareness on ASEAN and the common response was “What is that?” This scenario prompted the researcher to conduct this study. This study was led to determine the level of awareness of nurses in the clinical setting on ASEAN Integration and its prospects and opportunities in the nursing practice through their knowledge. With the current cognizance regarding the ASEAN and the ASEAN MRA, nurses should increase their level of awareness to benefit from the effects of the regionalization. Nurses should also be aware of the qualifications and eligibilities to benefit from the MRA on Nursing Services. In addition, this study desires to improve the present level of awareness of the nurses on the said regional endeavor. Since the concept of ASEAN Integration is wide, the study assessed for the awareness on salient topics on ASEAN, its prospects through AEC and the opportunities of nurses through the Mutual Recognition Agreement on Nursing Services. This study is directed towards investigating the level of awareness of the nurses in the different hospitals in Tuguegarao City on the opportunities and prospects of the ASEAN Integration.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research Design The study utilized the descriptive method of research. Descriptive research method is a fact-finding study with adequate and accurate interpretation of the findings. It describes with emphasis what actually exist such as current conditions, practices, situations, or any phenomena. Since the study was concerned with the present level of awareness on ASEAN Integration, AEC and MRA on Nursing Service of the nurses of Tuguegarao City, the descriptive method was the most appropriate method of research to use. Participants of the Study The researcher chose the complete enumeration method of selecting professional nurses from the local, secondary level hospitals in Tuguegarao City. Complete enumeration was done because it provides a true measure of the population. Further, complete enumeration is defined as the complete count of every unit, everyone or everything. It is also known as census. Of the 295 questionnaires distributed to the different hospitals, 151 were retrieved. This yielded 51.19% retrieval rate.

Instrumentation The research instrument used to gather data and information is a four-part questionnaire. The data collection instrument consists of four sections. The first section contains the necessary demographics of the participants: age, sex, highest academic degree, type of school graduated from, length in the nursing practice, hospital affiliation, type of hospital and job title. The second section was adopted from the questionnaire of Dr. Eric C. Thompson and Dr. Chulanee Thianthai in their study “Attitudes and Awareness toward ASEAN: Findings of a Ten Nation Survey”. This section pertains to seventeen (17) questions regarding the ASEAN: (a) how familiar the participant is with ASEAN; (b) the list of the ten member states; (c) identification of the ASEAN flag; and (d) list of the five founding members of ASEAN. The third section consisted of seventeen (17) self-made, true-false questions relating to the ASEAN Economic Community. The fourth section also contains a twenty (20) self-made, true-false questions related to Mutual Recognition Agreement on Nursing Services. The research professor went over the questionnaire to ensure content validity prior to floating of questionnaires. There were few items revised for clarity and definiteness. A letter to conduct the study to the different hospitals was distributed. Written informed consent forms were attached to the questionnaires. Only those who agreed to participate in the study were asked to answer the questionnaires. Data Gathering Procedure The researcher asked permission to conduct the study through a letter (sample questionnaire and consent were attached) addressed to the heads of the hospitals and through their respective chief nurses or head nurses. The instrument used to collect data was the aforementioned questionnaire. This was used because it gathers data fast and with ease. The distribution of questionnaires was done by the researcher and hospital representatives (i.e. head nurse, nurse supervisor, staff development officer) in the hospitals. An informed consent was presented prior to the answering of the questionnaire. After a few days, all the research tools were retrieved by the researcher. Data Analysis The data gathered were encoded, coded and statistically processed and presented in tabular forms using Stata. The following descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data gathered: 1. Frequency count and Percentage distribution were used to statistical treat the demographic profile of the participants and participants’ familiarity on ASEAN Integration. 2. Frequency count and percentage distribution and Mean- were used to determine the participants’ level of awareness on ASEAN Integration, AEC policies and ASEAN MRA on Nursing Services. The following mean range was used to describe the mean ratings obtained from the use of the questionnaire:

Scale 6 5 4 3 2 1

Mean range 95 – 100 90 – 94 85 – 89 80 – 84 75 – 79 Below 75

Descriptive interpretation Excellent Very good Good Fair Poor Needs improvement

Whereas, the correct responses were transmuted with the formula: (Raw score/Total number of items) x 50 +50 = Transmuted score or the Mean 3. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the significant difference between the profiles of participants to their level of awareness. This shed light to research question number 4. RESULTS Of the 151 nurses, majority are between 21 to 30 years old, females, and Bachelor’s degree holder. Majority of the participants graduated from private nursing institutions, had been in the nursing practice for 3 to 5 years, are affiliated from private hospitals of which are staff nurses. Majority of the participants answered that they are a little familiar and somewhat familiar. The participants’ overall level of awareness on ASEAN and ASEAN integration is fair. On the other hand, the nurses’ level of awareness prospects of ASEAN Economic Policies is good. The level of awareness on opportunities derived from ASEAN MRA on Nursing Services is poor. Test of Difference between the level of awareness of the Participants and their Profile Variables MRA on Profile Variables/ Level of ASEAN AEC Policies Nursing awareness of the Integration Services participants Age

F – ratio P – value Remarks

Sex

F – ratio P – value Remarks

Highest Academic Degree

F – ratio P – value Remarks

Type of School

F – ratio P – value

0.51 0.7715 No significant difference 0.15 0.9804 No significant difference 1.08 0.3725 No significant difference 0.76 0.5836

0.53 0.7544 No significant difference 0.70 0.6209 No significant difference 1.07 0.3779 No significant difference 1.05 0.3914

0.25 0.9107 No significant difference 0.66 0.6177 No significant difference 0.91 0.4576 No significant difference 0.37 0.8265

Graduated from Length in the Nursing Practice

Remarks

Hospital Affiliation

F – ratio P – value Remarks

Type of Hospital

F – ratio P – value Remarks

Position or Job Title

F – ratio P – value Remarks

F – ratio P – value Remarks

No significant difference 1.19 0.3150 No significant difference 0.94 0.4598 No significant difference 4.08 0.0017* With significant difference 0.77 0.5707 No significant difference

No significant difference 0.61 0.6941 No significant difference 2.03 0.0773 No significant difference 1.50 0.1923 No significant difference 1.84 0.1089 No significant difference

No significant difference 0.41 0.8038 No significant difference 1.39 0.2406 No significant difference 2.57 0.0403* With significant difference 0.31 0.8727 No significant difference

The table reveals that the One-way ANOVA between ASEAN Integration and the type of hospital, the calculation yielded an F-value of 4.08 and an associated probability value of 0.0017 at 0.05 alpha. This means that there is a significant difference between the level of awareness of the participants on ASEAN integration and the type hospital (private or public) they are working in. On the other hand, the One-way ANOVA between ASEAN MRA on Nursing Services and the type of hospital, the calculation yielded an F-value of 2.57 and an associated probability value of 0.0403 at 0.05 alpha. This also shows that there is a significant difference between the level of awareness of the participants on ASEAN MRA on Nursing Services and the type hospital (private or public) they are working in. This further implies that level of awareness of the participants on ASEAN Integration and ASEAN MRA on Nursing Services varies on the type of hospital. Participants working in public hospitals (M=89.56) has higher level of awareness than participants in the private hospitals (M=78.70). Moreover, public hospital nurses (M=82.06) have higher private hospital nurses (78.83). This is negated by the exploratory study of Motejo et, al. (2015) that there is no significant difference on the level of awareness of the participants to ASEAN Integration according to affiliated institution. The rest of the variables (age, sex, highest academic degree, type of school graduated from, length in nursing practice, type of hospital they are working in and position or job title) do not have a significant difference with the participants’ level of awareness. DISCUSSIONS The study reveals that nurses have fair awareness on ASEAN integration, good awareness on the prospects of the ASEAN through AEC policies and poor level of awareness on the opportunities of ASEAN through ASEAN MRA on Nursing Services. Overall, the researcher deduces that nurses in Tuguegarao City have fair awareness on this regional endeavor. The researcher then concludes that the participants have different level of awareness on ASEAN integration and on ASEAN MRA on Nursing Services in terms of the type of hospital they are working in – private or public.

In light of the findings and conclusions presented, the following recommendations are suggested: (a) that nurses in Tuguegarao City should improve their level of awareness on matters regarding ASEAN, (b) Hospital administrations should initiate awarenessraising strategies regarding ASEAN and (c) Collaboration among hospitals and related institutions should be done so as to be well-informed, well-adapted and harmonized with the changes in the health sector that the ASEAN may bring.

References