Effect of guided imagery on test anxiety among nursing students

The study was aimed to assess the effectiveness of guided imagery on test anxiety among nursing students. An experimental research design was used on 100 B.Sc (N) 1st year students studying in DMCH College of Nursing and Institute of Nursing Education Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib Hospital, Ludhiana. The convenience sampling was used to select the colleges and then by using lottery method 50 students were selected from DMCH College of Nursing as an experimental group and 50 students were selected from the Institute of Nursing Education Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib Hospital as control group. Pre-interventional scores of test anxiety were checked in both control and experimental group by using Sarason Test Anxiety Scale (1980). Guided imagery as an intervention in the form of audio tape for 30 minutes was given to the experimental group. After the intervention, post-interventional scores were assessed and were compared with pre-interventional scores. It was found that in experimental group post-interventional mean scores of test anxiety (18.3±3.9) was significantly low in comparison to pre-interventional mean scores of test anxiety (20.4±4.1). It reflects the improved anxiety level among nursing students after guided imagery (p = 0.001). Whereas in control group post-interventional mean scores of test anxiety (23.2±5.5) was significantly high in comparison to pre-interventional mean scores of test anxiety (22.3±4.7) at p = 0.13.