Developing a short version of the test anxiety scale for baccalaureate nursing skills test--a preliminary study

In this study, a brief and rapid skills test anxiety scale was developed to measure nursing students' anxiety before their first skills assessment test, and the measurement results were assessed using factor analysis.

A survey questionnaire design was used to gather cross-sectional data for the scale. The study subjects comprised 250 first-year bachelors of nursing students who completed a test anxiety survey before taking their first nursing skills test. This questionnaire evaluated first-year baccalaureate students' anxiety associated with applying nursing skills.

The results indicated that students were most anxious about the attitudes of the teachers proctoring the tests (94.6%), followed by the test atmosphere (92.2%). These 2 items were determined to be conducive to high anxiety and were statistically correlated. Exploratory analysis was used to extract 2 common factors, nonspecific information and test atmosphere. Meanwhile, factor loadings were 19.45% and 50.41%, respectively.

This study evaluated the validity and reliability of the proposed scale. The evidence-based results presented in this investigation provide teachers with a crucial reference for helping students reduce their anxiety before their first skills assessment test.