Degree Name
Nursing Practice, DNP
Publication Date
2025
First Advisor
Sandy King
Second Advisor
Brittany Marshall
Abstract
Nursing student retention is a critical issue due to limited clinical placements and faculty shortages, with many students citing test anxiety as a barrier to success in high-stakes National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) testing. The problem the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project identified is the lack of targeted interventions for test anxiety at the project site, a two-year community college’s associate degree nursing (ADN) program. The DNP project aimed to evaluate the efficacy of an Assessment Technologies Institute (ATI) test anxiety module on students’ course quiz scores and self-reporting of emotional barriers as measured by the depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS-21). The DNP student evaluated pre and post-intervention quiz scores and DASS-21 scores provided by the course faculty. The ATI test anxiety module led to reduced anxiety (pre: M = 16.10, post: M = 12.60), stress (pre: M = 16.10, post: M = 13.25), and depression (pre: M = 9.50, post: M = 8.75), with effect sizes indicating moderate improvements in stress and anxiety (Cohen’s d: -0.453 for anxiety, -0.398 for stress). Quiz scores decreased significantly (p = 0.0004) post-intervention, as assessed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (pre: M = 85.83, post: M = 76.03). The DNP project results demonstrated that targeted test anxiety intervention lessened emotional barriers but did not improve quiz scores. The project highlights the need for nursing programs to take a comprehensive approach to student retention, including academic and emotional support.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Gann, Aaron, "Quality Improvement Project - Test Anxiety in Nursing Students: Reducing Stress and Anxiety in the Testing Environment" (2025). Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects. 106.
https://arch.astate.edu/dnp-projects/106
