Published online Jun 19, 2022. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v12.i6.801
Peer-review started: September 24, 2021
First decision: January 12, 2022
Revised: January 26, 2022
Accepted: May 14, 2022
Article in press: May 14, 2022
Published online: June 19, 2022
Processing time: 263 Days and 6.4 Hours
Test anxiety is prevalent among medical students and leads to impaired academic performance. Test-related attentional bias has been identified as an important maintaining factor in test-anxious individuals.
To evaluate whether hypnosis and progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) could modify medical college students’ test anxiety and attentional bias.
A total of 598 medical students were screened. The participants were divided into higher and lower test anxiety groups according to their scores on the test anxiety scale (TAS). Ninety medical college students with high TAS score were randomly assigned to a hypnosis or PMR group. Another 45 students with low TAS score were included, forming a baseline control group. The intervention was conducted weekly for 6 wk, and each session lasted approximately 30 min. The total intervention time and the number of intervention sessions for the hypnosis and PMR groups were equal. Data were collected at the pretest, posttest, and 2-mo follow-up.
Hypnosis group participants had a significantly lower TAS score at posttest (t = -21.827, P < 0.001) and at follow-up (t = -14.824, P < 0.001), compared to that at pretest. PMR group participants also had a significantly lower TAS score at posttest (t = -10.777, P < 0.001) and at follow-up (t = -7.444, P < 0.001), compared to that at pretest. At the posttest level, the hypnosis group had a significantly lower TAS score than the PMR group (t = -3.664, P < 0.001). At the follow-up level, the hypnosis group also had a significantly lower TAS score than the PMR group (t = -2.943, P = 0.004). Clinically significant improvement was found in both the hypnosis and PMR groups (hypnosis = 64.0%; PMR = 62.22%). Hypnosis was more effective than PMR in reducing test anxiety among medical college students. Hypnosis could modify attentional bias toward threatening stimuli, but PMR could not.
These results suggest that attentional bias plays an important role in test anxiety treatment.
Core Tip: We wanted to explore whether hypnosis and progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) could modify medical college students’ test anxiety and related attentional bias toward threatening stimuli. We found that hypnosis was more effective than PMR in reducing test anxiety in medical students, and hypnosis could modify attentional bias toward threatening stimuli, but PMR could not. These results suggest that attentional bias plays an important role in the treatment of test anxiety.