THE OCCURRENCE OF TEST ANXIETY IN STUDENT NURSES IN SELECTED NURSING SCHOOLS IN GHANA

Abstract

This paper examined the occurrence of test anxiety among student nurses in selected Nursing Schools in Ghana. A total of one hundred and sixty four student nurses (N= 164) were drawn from five Nursing Training Schools in Ghana using stratified sampling technique. The Westside Test Anxiety Scale was administered to students from the various schools who came to Pantang Psychiatric Hospital for affiliation. Results were analysed using the independent t test and ANOVA. The findings of the study revealed that there was no significant difference in test anxiety among the various ages of the students. Secondly, there was no significant difference in anxiety scores among males and females. Thirdly, there was no significant difference in test anxiety between Christians and Muslims. There was also a significant difference in test anxiety levels among the various types of training with Health Assistant Clinical (HAC) students reporting higher test anxiety compared to both Registered General Nursing (RGN) and Midwifery students. The final finding was that there was a significant difference in reported test anxiety levels among students from the various schools with those from private institutions reporting significantly higher levels. It was recommended that the various HAC schools should organised training programmes for students on how to prepare and take exams and tests successfully.