Effect of the Students’ Test Anxiety Prevention Program on Students’ Experiences of Test Anxiety: A Mixed-Methods Experiment

Abstract

This study aims to introduce the Students’ Test Anxiety Prevention Program (STAPP), an intervention for test anxiety for university students in Iraq. We also evaluated its effectiveness against test and state anxiety. The STAPP is a short three-session intervention program comprising expressive emotional dialog, psychoeducation, and educational and cognitive–behavioral therapy techniques. Numerous studies have shown the effectiveness of cognitive–behavioral techniques among other populations; however, most interventions in Iraq focus on posttraumatic stress disorder. In this explanatory sequential mixed-methods study, we used an experimental design in the quantitative phase and conducted a focus group discussion in the qualitative phase. The study was conducted among a sample of Iraqi university students, as there is scarce research on test anxiety interventions among the Iraqi student population. Convenience sampling was used to select 60 participants—35 women and 25 men—randomly assigned to the control or intervention groups. The test-retest approach was used to compare test scores and state anxiety for both groups. The focus group discussion included seven members from the intervention group. The results suggest that STAPP is effective in reducing test anxiety. However, no significant changes were observed in state anxiety in the post-test phase. State anxiety is transient, whereas test anxiety represents a persistent trait. Participants displayed elevated levels of state anxiety, which may be attributed to coronavirus disease 2019-related stressors. Intervention programs should include exercises that facilitate transferring and generalizing learned material in various anxiety-provoking situations.