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Does Meditation Impact Test Anxiety in Associate Degree Nursing Students?

Dina Khentigan

preprint DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3981198 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Quasi-experimental single group pretest/posttest
Sample size 61
Population Associate degree nursing students in a fundamental nursing course at a small, urban college of health sciences in the Southeast
Intervention Meditation
Measures Westside Test Anxiety Scale (WTAS)
Topics Anxiety Meditation
Key findings Meditation practiced between tests two and three did not significantly change test anxiety scores (p = .934). All 61 participants scored in the high normal range or above for test anxiety at pretest, which the author argues makes interventions to reduce test anxiety imperative for nursing programs.

Abstract

The purpose of the DNP project was to determine if meditation impacted test anxiety in associate degree nursing (ADN) students. Nursing students are more prone to experience test anxiety compared to other college students. A quantitative, quasi-experimental single group pretest/posttest design was implemented to assess the effects of meditation between tests two and three in fundamental nursing students. Participants were recruited from a non-probability, convenience sample (N = 61) at a small, urban college of health sciences in the Southeast. The Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping was the theory that guided this project. The Westside Test Anxiety Scale (WTAS) was the instrument completed by students to rank test anxiety before and after the meditation was practiced. Although the findings did not demonstrate statistical significance (p = .934) the pre-test WTAS scores indicated that all students in this sample experienced high normal test anxiety or greater. Therefore, it is imperative that interventions to decrease test anxiety be implemented by nursing programs in order to decrease attrition. Fostering student success in schools of nursing support more nurses entering a workforce that is already experiencing a shortage of professionals.

Comparable studies

Other experimental studies on anxiety, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
A PILOT STUDY OF GROUP MINDFULNESS-BASED COGNITIVE THERAPY (MBCT) FOR COMBAT VETERANS WITH POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD) Veterans with chronic combat posttraumatic stress disorder seeking treatment at a VA... 2013 Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual comparison group n = 37
Being present in the face of existential threat: The role of trait mindfulness in reducing defensive responses to mortality salience. 2010 Experimental study
Neural correlates of mindfulness meditation-related anxiety relief Healthy adults with no prior meditation experience 2013 Within-subjects experimental study n = 15
Intensive mindfulness training-related changes in cognitive and emotional experience Community adults 2009 Quasi-experimental and longitudinal n = 69
Prospective examination of synthetic 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine inhalation: effects on salivary IL-6, cortisol levels, affect, and non-judgment Volunteers 2019 Within-subjects experimental study n = 11

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