Relation of Anxiety Levels and Objective Structured Clinical Examination among Undergraduate Nursing Students

An individual's psychological and physiological state is impacted by anxiety brought on by various physical, emotional, and cognitive factors [1]. Numerous researchers have studied anxiety and the mental health of undergraduate nursing students to determine their impact on the students' psychological and academic outcomes [2]. Higher levels of anxiety and other mental health issues, such as stress, and depression, were reported by nursing students compared to non-nursing undergraduate students [3]. Stress and anxiety have been reported among healthcare professionals due to multiple sources of intrinsic stress. For example, when a person faces an excessively stressful situation, stress and anxiety can generate detrimental and long-lasting psychological effects [4]. Thus, measures need to be taken to prevent stress and anxiety from affecting the learning of nursing students and later the performance of nurses.Compared to academic training, practical nurse training is reported to be much more stressful. Research has shown that an anxiety-coping program could help nursing students feel less anxious and perform better on their practical training and examination, i.e. Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) [5]. This suggests that anxiety-coping programs may be used to enhance clinical activity evaluation across a range of health professions, including nursing. Therefore, educators should implement anxiety-coping programs that will aid students in lowering anxiety and enhancing their exam performance