The Effects of Therapeutic Touch on Test Anxiety among Nursing Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Test anxiety is widespread among nursing students. It is a condition that negatively affects academic success, skills, and personality development. Therapeutic touch is one of the nonpharmacological methods utilized for anxiety management. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of therapeutic touch administered to nursing students on test anxiety.

This randomized controlled trial was conducted with 46 undergraduate nursing students. Participants were randomly assigned to either the therapeutic touch group (n = 23) or the control group (n = 23). The intervention group received a 20-minute Krieger-Kunz therapeutic touch session from a certified practitioner in a quiet room 1 hour before the test. The control group was invited to the same setting but received no intervention. Test anxiety was measured using the State Test Anxiety Scale in both groups before the intervention and 10 minutes prior to the exam. The data were analyzed using ANCOVA.

According to the ANCOVA results, the nursing students who were applied therapeutic touch had significantly lower anxiety scores compared to the students who did not receive the intervention (F = 144.685, p < .001, ηp 2 = 0.771).

It was concluded that therapeutic touch, one of the complementary treatment methods, can effectively lower the test anxiety of nursing students before written tests. Cite this article as: G.ktuna, G., & Ağralı, C. (2026). The effects of therapeutic touch on test anxiety among nursing students: a randomized controlled trial. Florence Nightingale Journal of Nursing, 34, 0228, doi:10.5152/FNJN.2026.24228.