Comparison of physical therapy anatomy performance and anxiety scores in timed and untimed practical tests

Abstract

Students in health care professional programs face many stressful tests that determine successful completion of their program. Test anxiety during these high stakes examinations can affect working memory and lead to poor outcomes. Methods of decreasing test anxiety include lengthening the time available to complete examinations or evaluating students using untimed examinations. There is currently no consensus in the literature regarding whether untimed examinations provide a benefit to test performance in clinical anatomy. This study aimed to determine the impact of timed versus untimed practical tests on Master of Physical Therapy student anatomy performance and test anxiety. Test anxiety was measured using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Differences in performance, anxiety scores, and time taken were compared using paired sample Student's t-tests. Eighty-one of the 84 students completed the study and provided feedback. Students performed significantly higher on the untimed test (P = 0.005), with a significant reduction in test anxiety (P < 0.001). Students who were unsuccessful on the timed test showed the greatest improvement on the untimed test ( x¯ = 20.4 ±10%). Eighty-three percent (n = 69) of students preferred the untimed test, 8.4% (n = 7) the timed test, and 8.4% (n = 7) had no preference. Students took on average eight minutes longer on the untimed test. This study found that physical therapy students perform better on untimed tests, which may be related to a reduction in test anxiety. If the intended goal of evaluating health care professional students is to determine fundamental competencies, these factors should be considered when designing future curricula.

Medical student use of Facebook to support preparation for anatomy assessments

“…Future work will, therefore, endeavor to remedy the limitations mentioned previously. As this study was exploratory in nature further projects will seek to explore the positive and negative impact this resource has on test anxiety using a more robust validated instrument, such as the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory which has been used in previous studies (Spielberger, 1983;Schwartz et al, 2015). Furthermore, due to the positive outcomes documented in this paper, and the potential for future iterations of the Facebook Page to be integrated into the anatomy curricula, a more in depth understanding of social media addiction will be conducted.…”

“…Moreover, at present there is very little empirical research that has addressed this issue specifically within anatomy education. Schwartz et al (2015) provides a comprehensive summary on the potential impact test anxiety could have in preparation, and during, timed high-stakes assessments such as objective structured practical examinations (OSPEs). Test anxiety manifests as periods of increased worry in relation to the upcoming assessment with the student becoming distracted, and lingering negative thoughts unrelated to the actual test material (i.e., potential test failure and comparison to peers) leading to students "blanking out."…”

Clinical utility of a targeted smartphone application to aid veterinary students in calculating constant rate infusions and perioperative fluid drip rates

“…Three survey respondents reported that being timed while completing the CRI calculations while monitoring anaesthetised patients were sources of stress. Healthcare professionals also exhibit better performance on untimed tests when compared with timed tests due to reduced test anxiety 27. In critical situations during anaesthesia, delayed treatment may result in further pain and suffering to the patient.…”

“…Healthcare professionals also exhibit better performance on untimed tests when compared with timed tests due to reduced test anxiety. 27 In critical situations during anaesthesia, delayed treatment may result in further pain and sufering to the patient. Timely and appropriate interventions without error during periods of stress are an important part of providing quality veterinary care.…”

Test Anxiety in the Nursing Skills Laboratory: A Concept Analysis

“…The concept of test anxiety is predominant in a broad range of disciplines and in various educational settings (Gibson, 2014). These educational settings include medicine, chiropractic, engineering, and physiotherapy fields (Powell, 2004;Saravanan, Kingston, & Gin, 2014;Schwartz, Evans, & Agur, 2015;Vitasari, Wahab, Othman, Herawan, & Sinnadurai, 2010;Zang & Henderson, 2014). In medicine, test anxiety is one of the major problems that most likely causes underachievement, low performance, demotivation, and psychological distress among their students (Powell, 2004).…”