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.
Waist circumference (WC) is considered as a superior indicator to predict central obesity and its related comorbidities. Limited studies were conducted to infer central obesity using WC among university staffs. A cross-sectional study through the convenience sampling method was employed using the short form international physical activity questionnaire, anthropometric measurements, and WC measurement to infer a level of physical activity, body mass index (BMI), and central obesity. Seventy staff from three private universities in Malaysia participated in this study. There is a high prevalence (78.6%) of central obesity among the participants irrespective of their age. Majority of the participants fall under the overweight (37.1%) and obese (21.4%) category of BMI 48.6% reported to be involved in low level of physical activity. No difference in prevalence of central obesity based on age, gender, and level of physical activity. There is a moderately strong correlation between BMI and WC. In this study notably a high prevalence of central obesity in participants with underweight and desirable weight category of BMI was reported, which synergizes the concept of including WC measurement in health promotion activities. Appropriate multi- component and multi-level interventions can be considered to this population to prevent/combat obesity.
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