Interventional Strategies to Reduce Test Anxiety among Nursing Students: A Systematic Review

Manjit Kaur Khaira, Raja Lexshimi Raja Gopal, Suriati Mohamed Saini and Zaleha Md Isa ()
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Manjit Kaur Khaira: Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia
Raja Lexshimi Raja Gopal: Faculty of Nursing, University of Cyberjaya, Cyberjaya 63000, Malaysia
Suriati Mohamed Saini: Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia
Zaleha Md Isa: Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-15

Abstract: Nursing students are reported to have moderate to high test anxiety, leading to reduced academic performance, poor self-esteem, and failure to complete the program and practice nursing. This review aims to examine the interventions for test anxiety reduction in nursing students. Following the PRISMA guidelines, peer-reviewed experimental studies published in English between 2016 and 2021 from four databases, EBSCOhost, PubMed, Science Direct, and Scopus, were systematically searched. The findings were presented in tabular and narrative form. Among the 722 studies retrieved, 14 selected studies were critically appraised, guided by the Joanna Briggs checklist for Randomized Controlled Trials and the checklist for Quasi-Experimental Studies, resulting in 11 studies for inclusion in the systematic review. Test anxiety was assessed by different scales. Aromatherapy hand massage, aromatherapy using a diffuser in combination with music therapy, confidence training for test relaxation, coping program, music therapy, emotional freedom technique, animal-assisted intervention, and guided imagery were all found to be effective in reducing test anxiety. In conclusion, while numerous interventions to reduce test anxiety in nursing students were found to be effective, the quality of the studies investigating these interventions was varied with generally small sample sizes and limited follow-up. Future research should be conducted, and the same interventions should be carried out using a larger sample size to strengthen the body of evidence.

Keywords: test anxiety; nursing students; interventions; systematic review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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