Test anxiety: Perceptions of Omani nursing students - A descriptive qualitative study

Background: Excessive anxiety may have a detrimental effect on nursing students' performance. Understanding students' experiences of test anxiety (TA) is crucial to improve their academic performance and help them lead a successful professional life. Objectives: To explore TA from the perspective of nursing students, identify the factors that affect TA and possible interventions to reduce it. Method: the setting is a nursing college from Oman. All regular undergraduate nursing students from years 2, 3, 4 and 5 and bridging students (those doing BSc nursing after a diploma in nursing) were invited through their cohort leaders. The interested participants from each cohort signed the consent to participate in the focus group. Results: Thirty students from different academic years participated in five focus groups, each comprising 5-8 undergraduate students and lasted from 45 to 60 minutes. Approximately 80% of the students experienced moderate to severe TA. The causes were divided into students, courses and examiner-related factors. Other themes were signs and symptoms of TA, the impact of TA on different aspects of life, effective management techniques and suggestions for improvement. The findings indicate that TA improves with experience as students advance academically. Furthermore, bridging students face less TA in their clinical practice than regular students and TA impacts more aspects of their lives. Conclusion: This study highlights the TA experiences of nursing students at different levels and in different programs. the findings showed that most students experienced test anxiety, but the perception of TA improved when students advanced their academic lives. the distinct experiences of Omani nursing students highlight the importance of tailored interventions to mitigate its impact on academic performance and overall well-being.