Does test anxiety and gender have an impact on OSCE Performance among medical students?

Abstract

Objective: to determine the association of test anxiety on OSCE performance of medical students in Taif Medical College. Study Design: The survey research design was used to conduct the research. Place and Duration of study: This was a comparative cross sectional study conducted on the 3rd, 4thand 5th year medical students in Taif Medical College of Taif University KSA. Materials & Methods: A ten item questionnaire developed by Nist and Diehl (1990) for determining mild or severe levels of TA experienced by students was used in the study. Results: A total of 518 students participated in the survey. The majority of the sample population was male 319 (61%) and 199 (39%) were females. Our results showed that a greater proportion (21%) of the male students, as compared to their counterparts, were in the group having high level of anxiety during test. It was observed that the 3rd year students performed poorly on TA and scored high on the scale. The difference observed in proportions was also statistically significant (Chi square 65.97, p value 0.000001). There was a significant negative correlation between the test anxiety and students performance in oral structured examination (OSCE). Pearson correlation coefficient of -0.45 and a p value < 0.0001 was observed. Conclusion: We conclude that test anxiety is experienced by a large number of undergraduate medical students of Taif Medical University. Anxiety has a negative effect on overall academic performance; female students were also more affected compared to their male counterparts. Key Words: Test anxiety, gender, medical students, academic performance

Objective structured clinical examination: Do first-year nursing students perceive it to be stressful?

“…These findings are consistent with the literature and across various disciplines (dental students, medical students). In a study that examines the effects of anxiety on dental students in their first OSCE, although the majority of participants were male, the authors found that female students presented higher anxiety levels than male students; however, there was no statistical gender difference in students (Arain 2021 :104; Wadi et al 2022 :52; Wu et al 2020 :854). In the current study, the demographic characteristics age, marital status and nursing as the first tertiary education did not yield any significant differences in terms of perceived stress, perceived factors causing stress and perceived incidence of stress.…”