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Study of test anxiety amongst undergraduate medical students from the state of Gujarat

2023; Medknow; Volume: 12; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.4103/jehp.jehp_1680_22

2319-6440

Rujvee Patel, Jagdish Varma, Ajay Phatak, Somashekhar Nimbalkar,

Emotional Intelligence and Performance

BACKGROUND: Test anxiety is physiological and behavioral response that accompanies concerns about possible negative consequences of failure on an exam. Undergraduate medical students had their academics disrupted during COVID-19 pandemic. This study was done to assess levels of test anxiety among undergraduate medical students, its variance in relation to demography, COVID-19 pandemic, learning experiences, and individual factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Online questionnaire-based survey was done among undergraduate medical students from medical schools of Gujarat. Students from 1 st , 2 nd , and 3 rd years who were about to appear in final exams from March to June 2021 and were asked to enroll on the survey. Apart from demography, COVID-19-related factors, learning experiences during lockdown, 10-item Westside test anxiety (WTA) scale was used to assess test anxiety levels and Kessler Psychological distress (K10) scale was used to assess level of psychological distress. RESULTS: Total of 370 students participated. Mean WTA Score was 3.15 ± 1; 60.2% of the respondents had moderate or higher levels of test anxiety. On bivariate analysis, WTA score was found significantly associated with year of study, coming from vernacular medium, various lockdown-related issues (poor internet connection, family financial problem, lack of information, worry about future), various learning experiences (self-rated proficiency with computers, feeling ill prepared for exams, feeling ill prepared for practical), and K10 score. Of these associations with K10 score, coming from vernacular medium and feeling ill-prepared for exams were maintained on multiple-linear regression. CONCLUSIONS: Vernacular medium of study during high school was found associated with test anxiety among medical students and can be a potential area of intervention. There may be merit in using WTA scale as a surrogate marker for distress in medical students.