Unpacking The Pause: How Gap Years Shape Nursing Student Journeys

This research investigates the experiences of nursing students in Baguio City, Philippines who had a gap year (a year of taking a break in formal education) before pursuing the course or in the middle of the course with a focus on describing their lived experience. Using a descriptive phenomenologic...

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Main Authors: Romana Caytap-Latowed, Mary Rose Bencila-Simon
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Stecab Publishing 2025-07-01
Series:Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.stecab.com/jahss/article/view/699
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author Romana Caytap-Latowed
Mary Rose Bencila-Simon
author_facet Romana Caytap-Latowed
Mary Rose Bencila-Simon
author_sort Romana Caytap-Latowed
collection DOAJ
description This research investigates the experiences of nursing students in Baguio City, Philippines who had a gap year (a year of taking a break in formal education) before pursuing the course or in the middle of the course with a focus on describing their lived experience. Using a descriptive phenomenological method, the study undertook in-depth, semi-structured interviews with purposively-selected participants in order to reveal key motivations, transformative experiences and perceived life-long consequences of this interruption to educational provision. The results indicate academic refreshment and preparation for the challenging conditions of nursing education. The learnings in skills, ability to adapt, and develop resiliency, simplicity in career aspirations were reported. But dealing with issues such as academic transition and financial obligations were also reported. The study also suggests that for the nursing students of Baguio City, taking a productive gap year can play a formative role in influencing the academic and career paths of the students as it can cause significant development in the students’ maturity, self-efficacy, and intentional view towards their career future as health professionals. Such understandings enhance our overall knowledge regarding the role of educational hiatuses in nursing, and help to highlight the necessary support from institutions in order to acknowledge the possible advantages and challenges of gap years.
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spelling doaj-art-58c3f5613f804b588f0740adc4ffcd302025-08-20T03:27:22ZengStecab PublishingJournal of Arts, Humanities and Social Science3006-94912025-07-012216818010.69739/jahss.v2i2.699699Unpacking The Pause: How Gap Years Shape Nursing Student JourneysRomana Caytap-Latowed0Mary Rose Bencila-Simon1https://orcid.org/0009-0001-7929-8262College of Advance Education, Ifugao State University, Lamut, Ifugao, PhilippinesSchool of Nursing, Allied Health and Biological Sciences, Saint Louis University, Baguio City, PhilippinesThis research investigates the experiences of nursing students in Baguio City, Philippines who had a gap year (a year of taking a break in formal education) before pursuing the course or in the middle of the course with a focus on describing their lived experience. Using a descriptive phenomenological method, the study undertook in-depth, semi-structured interviews with purposively-selected participants in order to reveal key motivations, transformative experiences and perceived life-long consequences of this interruption to educational provision. The results indicate academic refreshment and preparation for the challenging conditions of nursing education. The learnings in skills, ability to adapt, and develop resiliency, simplicity in career aspirations were reported. But dealing with issues such as academic transition and financial obligations were also reported. The study also suggests that for the nursing students of Baguio City, taking a productive gap year can play a formative role in influencing the academic and career paths of the students as it can cause significant development in the students’ maturity, self-efficacy, and intentional view towards their career future as health professionals. Such understandings enhance our overall knowledge regarding the role of educational hiatuses in nursing, and help to highlight the necessary support from institutions in order to acknowledge the possible advantages and challenges of gap years.https://journals.stecab.com/jahss/article/view/699gap yearnursing educationpersonal developmentstudent motivation
spellingShingle Romana Caytap-Latowed
Mary Rose Bencila-Simon
Unpacking The Pause: How Gap Years Shape Nursing Student Journeys
Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Science
gap year
nursing education
personal development
student motivation
title Unpacking The Pause: How Gap Years Shape Nursing Student Journeys
title_full Unpacking The Pause: How Gap Years Shape Nursing Student Journeys
title_fullStr Unpacking The Pause: How Gap Years Shape Nursing Student Journeys
title_full_unstemmed Unpacking The Pause: How Gap Years Shape Nursing Student Journeys
title_short Unpacking The Pause: How Gap Years Shape Nursing Student Journeys
title_sort unpacking the pause how gap years shape nursing student journeys
topic gap year
nursing education
personal development
student motivation
url https://journals.stecab.com/jahss/article/view/699
work_keys_str_mv AT romanacaytaplatowed unpackingthepausehowgapyearsshapenursingstudentjourneys
AT maryrosebencilasimon unpackingthepausehowgapyearsshapenursingstudentjourneys