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: political-
security 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 Mean range Descriptive interpretation
6 95 – 100 Excellent
5 90 – 94 Very good
4 85 – 89 Good
3 80 – 84 Fair
2 75 – 79 Poor
1 Below 75 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 0.51 0.53 0.25
P – value 0.7715 0.7544 0.9107
Remarks No significant No significant No significant
difference difference difference
Sex F – ratio 0.15 0.70 0.66
P – value 0.9804 0.6209 0.6177
Remarks No significant No significant No significant
difference difference difference
Highest F – ratio 1.08 1.07 0.91
Academic P – value 0.3725 0.3779 0.4576
Degree Remarks No significant No significant No significant
difference difference difference
Type of F – ratio 0.76 1.05 0.37
School P – value 0.5836 0.3914 0.8265
 Graduated Remarks No significant No significant No significant
from difference difference difference
Length in the F – ratio 1.19 0.61 0.41
Nursing P – value 0.3150 0.6941 0.8038
Practice Remarks No significant No significant No significant
difference difference difference
Hospital F – ratio 0.94 2.03 1.39
Affiliation P – value 0.4598 0.0773 0.2406
Remarks No significant No significant No significant
difference difference difference
Type of F – ratio 4.08 1.50 2.57
Hospital P – value 0.0017* 0.1923 0.0403*
Remarks With significant No significant With significant
difference difference difference
Position or F – ratio 0.77 1.84 0.31
Job Title P – value 0.5707 0.1089 0.8727
Remarks No significant No significant No significant
difference difference 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 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.

References