The Effect of Therapeutic Touch on Exam Anxiety

February 23, 2024 updated by: Gizem Göktuna, Dokuz Eylul University

The Effect of Therapeutic Touch Applied to Nursing Students on Exam Anxiety

Aim: This study was planned to determine the effect of therapeutic touch applied to nursing students on test anxiety.

Method: Students who met the inclusion criteria were divided into therapeutic touch and control groups using the randomization method. After the groups were determined, the students filled out the Introductory Information Form and the State Exam Anxiety Scale. 30 minutes before the exam, therapeutic touch was applied to each of the students, who were divided into groups, for 20 minutes. No application was made to the control group, and they were told to wait in the classroom where the group was waiting as they wished.Immediately after the application was completed, the scale was re-applied to both groups.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Test anxiety is a condition that has cognitive, emotional and physiological aspects and causes unwanted and disturbing emotions during the exam. It can inhibit the mental perception needed to do well on an exam, as well as the clear thinking skills and memory needed to study effectively.The person may feel anxious, worthless or disorganized, experience rapid heartbeat, headaches and stress; They may compare themselves with their peers due to test anxiety. Test anxiety can hinder educational success and negatively impact students' skill development and academic performance. Nursing education is a highly stressful process that includes theoretical and practical learning and teaching experiences. This situation further increases students' anxiety levels. Studies have found that nursing students' test anxiety is higher than other university students.I t is known that many complementary methods are used to reduce anxiety. Therapeutic touch, which is one of the energy-based practices, is one of them.

When the literature is examined, it can be seen that therapeutic touch has been studied on symptoms such as anxiety, fatigue, sleep quality, comfort and pain in different sample groups, but there is no study on test anxiety.Therefore, this study was planned to determine the effect of therapeutic touch applied to nursing students on test anxiety.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

50

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • To be over 18 years of age,
  • To know Turkish and to agree to participate in the research
  • Being a fourth year nursing student
  • Not having received any energy therapy (reiki, therapeutic touch) before

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Presence of existing psychiatric illness,
  • Using anxiolytic and antidepressant medications

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Therapeutic touch group
Individuals who undergo therapeutic touch will receive therapeutic touch for 20 minutes 30 minutes before the exam.
Behavioral: therapeutic touch
Individuals who undergo therapeutic touch will receive therapeutic touch for 20 minutes 30 minutes before the exam.
No Intervention: control group
No treatment will be performed on individuals in the control group.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Text Anxiety
Time Frame: Individuals in the therapeutic touch and control groups will be measured as a baseline before the application.

Comparison of test anxiety results of therapeutic touch group and control group. The students' test anxiety score data were collected by the State Test Anxiety Scale.

It is a 22-item scale. The scores in the inventory range from 22 to 88. Higher points show a higher level of anxiety.
Individuals in the therapeutic touch and control groups will be measured as a baseline before the application.
Text Anxiety
Time Frame: After the therapeutic touch is completed, individuals in both groups will be measured again within an average of 10 minutes.

Comparison of test anxiety results of therapeutic touch group and control group. The students' test anxiety score data were collected by the State Test Anxiety Scale.

It is a 22-item scale. The scores in the inventory range from 22 to 88. Higher points show a higher level of anxiety.
After the therapeutic touch is completed, individuals in both groups will be measured again within an average of 10 minutes.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Dokuz Eylul University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 15, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

February 23, 2024

Study Completion (Estimated)

March 10, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 18, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 23, 2024

First Posted (Estimated)

February 26, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

February 26, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 23, 2024

Last Verified

February 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2023/9/8

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Test Anxiety

Clinical Trials on therapeutic touch

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Türkiye

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

3
Subscribe