Nursing students' perceived anxiety and heart rate variability in mock skill competency assessment.

Abstract

BackgroundSkill competency assessments induce stress and anxiety and may affect nursing student performance. Little is known about stress and perceived anxiety levels and their relationship in the mock skill competency assessment.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the stress levels (as assessed by heart rate variability, HRV) and perceived anxiety before, during and after the mock skill competency assessment, and to explore their relationships to performance in a total of ninety first-year undergraduate nursing students.ResultsThe HRV decreased significantly during the assessment and increased significantly 10 min after the assessment (p ConclusionsConsidering assessment-related stress and anxiety through a mock assessment prior to the actual skill assessment provides implications for future nursing education.