EXAM ANXIETYNCT06454799
Effect of Acupressure Therapy Applied to Nursing Students on Exam Anxiety and Vital Signs
A study testing Akupressur in people with EXAM ANXIETY and VITAL SIGNS, run by Eastern Mediterranean University at 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye).
Trial summary
To examine the effect of acupressure therapy method applied to nursing students on exam anxiety and vital signs. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- EXAM ANXIETY, VITAL SIGNS
- What is being tested?
- Akupressur
- Type of treatment
- Pill or oral medicine, Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 118 participants
- Where
- 1 siteTurkey (Türkiye)
- Study dates
- 28 Dec 2023to 12 Jul 2024
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Being a 2nd year student at Eastern Mediterranean University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing.
- Volunteering to participate in the study,
- Studying in the Turkish department
Who cannot join
- Not agreeing to participate in the research.
- Not taking the Fundamentals of Nursing course
- Using any alternative therapy method before the practical oral exam
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
About this study
Official title: Effect of Acupressure Therapy Applied to Nursing Students on Exam Anxiety and Vital Signs: A Randomızed Controlled Experımental Study
To examine the effect of acupressure therapy method applied to nursing students on exam anxiety and vital signs.
Read the detailed description
In nursing education, the Fundamentals of Nursing course, which includes the basic concepts, theories, principles and methods of nursing care and provides cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills, is the course where students first come into contact with the nursing profession. The aim of this course is to turn students into professional nurses in connection with theoretical knowledge, laboratory and clinical practice. In the Fundamentals of Nursing course, which forms the basis for other nursing profession courses; Following the explanation of the theoretical content in the classroom environment, the applications are shown with the demonstration method, and then psychomotor skills are tried to be gained by students making applications on various models and/or models in skill laboratories.
Different evaluation methods such as written, oral, practical-oral exams are used in the evaluation of courses. During this evaluation, nursing students experience different levels of anxiety and their exam performance is affected. There are many factors that affect the level of anxiety. Wafika and Halabi stated that anxiety in nursing students may be related to extra-individual, intra-individual or inter-individual forces; They stated that this may be caused by factors such as financial problems, long working hours, feeling of inadequacy, information overload, clinical pressure, lack of time to meet expectations for exams and personal needs. Anxiety is not always harmful; low and moderate levels of anxiety support the student's creativity and development, while high levels of anxiety can cause inattention and concentration problems. This may negatively affect student learning and lead to application errors and low academic performance in exams. In addition, exam anxiety causes emotional and behavioral changes, as well as physiological changes such as increased heart rate, difficulty breathing, muscle tension, and rapid breathing.
At this point, it is important to manage anxiety and different alternative therapy methods can be used for this. These methods include alternative therapies such as music therapy, gradual muscle relaxation exercises, hypnosis, imagination, aromatherapy and acupressure.
Acupressure (Shiatsu) is a massage technique based on traditional Chinese medicine, consisting of the words Shi = finger and atsu = pressure, and can be applied with fingers, hands, wrists, palms, knees or special stimulation bands. Acupressure aims to correct the disrupted energy flow by applying pressure to certain points on the meridians in the body, stimulating the body's self-healing abilities. Acupressure technique is noninvasive, safe and effective. Acupressure is not a substitute for other traditional treatments; Rather, it supplements and supports other improvement methods.
When the literature is examined; In the study conducted by Eunkyung and Jin-Hwa Park on nursing students, ear acupressure application was found to be effective in reducing the level of exam anxiety. Kristina et al. In a study conducted by, the effect of acupressure application, which was used to reduce stress non-pharmacologically in university students, was examined. It has been observed that it significantly reduces the stress response, decreases subjective stress scores, and increases correct responses. In a study by İnangil in which he investigated the effects of EFT and music therapy on test anxiety with 90 students, he concluded that there was a statistically significant decrease in the pulse rate of the EFT group.
When test anxiety is severe or permanent, students may not be able to adapt to the environment and the exam. As a result, he may not be able to use the information he has learned and knows in the exam. Therefore, it is important for students to recognize their anxiety and use different effective coping strategies to control them. At this point, managing students' test anxiety with effective methods is very important in terms of increasing academic success. For this reason, this research was planned to examine the effect of the acupressure therapy method applied to nursing students on exam anxiety and vital signs.
- Conditions
- EXAM ANXIETY, VITAL SIGNS
- Being tested
- Akupressur
- Keywords
- ACUPRESSURE, EXAM ANXIETY, VITAL SIGNS, NURSING STUDENTS
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
AkupressurBehavioural
The application will be carried out on 3 body points. These; Pericardium 6, Yintang and Shen men points. Acupressure will be applied to each of these acupressure points for 1 minute.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Acupressure group | Experimental | On the day of the Applied Oral Exam, which will be administered at the end of the semester within the scope of the Principles of Nursing course, each student in the Acupressure group will be taken to the appropriate classroom 15 minutes before taking the exam and will first fill out the "Personal Information Form", "State Exam Anxiety Scale" and "Vital Signs Tracking Chart". Then, acupressure will be applied to the student. After the application, the "State Test Anxiety Scale" and "Vital Signs Follow-up Chart" will be filled in again and then the student will be sent for the exam.
The application will be carried out on 3 body points. These; Pericardium 6, Yintang and Shen men points. Acupressure will be applied to each of these acupressure points for 1 minute. Receives: Behavioral: Akupressur |
| control group | No intervention | On the day of the Applied Oral Exam, which will be administered at the end of the semester within the scope of the Principles of Nursing course, each student in the control group will be taken to the appropriate classroom 15 minutes before taking the exam and will first fill out the "Personal Information Form", "State Exam Anxiety Scale" and "Vital Signs Tracking Chart". After waiting 15 minutes without any practice, the "State Test Anxiety Scale" and "Vital Signs Tracking Chart" will be filled in again and then the student will be sent for the exam. |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Systolic pressure
A blood pressure monitor will be used for measurement, and blood pressure (mmHg) readings will be recorded by the researcher for monitoring purposes. Measurements will be taken every minute.
Measured: 1 day
Oxygen Saturation
blood pressure monitor will be used for measurement, and oxygen saturation (SpO2) will be recorded by the researcher for monitoring purposes. Measurements will be taken every minute.
Measured: 1 day
Pulse
A blood pressure monitor will be used for measurement, and pulse (BPM ) will be recorded by the researcher for monitoring purposes. Measurements will be taken every minute.
Measured: 1 day
diastolic pressure
A blood pressure monitor will be used for measurement, and blood pressure (mmHg)
Measured: 1 day
Secondary outcomes (1)
State-Trait Anxiety Inventory
The scale consists of 22 items and comprises three subscales: cognitive, psychosocial, and physiological. The lowest possible total score that can be obtained from the scale is 22, while the highest total score is 88. The cognitive subscale used in the final application includes items numbered 3, 4, 7, 9, 14, 16, 18, 20, and 22. The lowest score that can be obtained from this subscale is 9, and the highest score is 36. The psychosocial subscale used in the final application consists of a total of 5 items, namely 6, 10, 12, 13, and 21. The lowest score that can be obtained from this subscale is 5, and the highest score is 20. Lastly, the physiological subscale used in the final application includes items numbered 1, 2, 5, 8, 11, 15, 17, and 19, totaling 8 items. The lowest score that can be obtained from this subscale is 8, and the highest score is 32. The alpha internal consistency coefficient of the scale is 0.94
Measured: 1 day
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted12 Jun 2024
- Study start28 Dec 2023
- Primary completion3 Jul 2024
- Study completion12 Jul 2024
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (5)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for EXAM ANXIETYStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Supportive care
- Allocation
- Non-randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Model description
- On the day of the Applied Oral Exam, which will be administered at the end of the semester within the scope of the Principles of Nursing course, each student in the Acupressure group will be taken to the appropriate classroom 15 minutes before taking the exam and will first fill out the "Personal Information Form", "State Exam Anxiety Scale" and "Vital Signs Tracking Chart". Then, acupressure will be applied to the student. After the application, the "State Test Anxiety Scale" and "Vital Signs Follow-up Chart" will be filled in again and then the student will be sent for the exam. The researcher who will conduct the research has an acupressure certificate and will perform the application directly to the students. The application will be carried out on 3 body points. Acupressure will be applied to each of these acupressure points for 1 minute.
- Masking
- Single blind
- Who is masked
- Outcomes assessor
- Enrolment
- 118 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Eastern Mediterranean University
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, İnsel İşlek, Eastern Mediterranean University
- Investigators
- Hülya Fırat Kılıç, Study director, Eastern Mediterranean Universityİnsel İşlek, Principal investigator, Eastern Mediterranean UniversitySeda Cevheroğlu, Study chair, Eastern Mediterranean University
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06454799
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- Eastern Mediterranean U.
- Status last verified
- Sep 2024
- First submitted
- 14 Nov 2023
- Last updated
- 5 Sep 2024
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- Yes
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No: The investigators don't have a plan at the moment
Publications
Lee E, Park JH. Effect of Acupressure on Pre-Exam Anxiety in Nursing Students. Altern Ther Health Med. 2023 Jul;29(5):158-163.
PubMed 34331752Kang YS, Choi SY, Ryu E. The effectiveness of a stress coping program based on mindfulness meditation on the stress, anxiety, and depression experienced by nursing students in Korea. Nurse Educ Today. 2009 Jul;29(5):538-43. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2008.12.003. Epub 2009 Jan 13.
PubMed 19141364McFadden KL, Healy KM, Hoversten KP, Ito TA, Hernandez TD. Efficacy of acupressure for non-pharmacological stress reduction in college students. Complement Ther Med. 2012 Aug;20(4):175-82. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2011.12.003. Epub 2012 Jan 4.
PubMed 22579428Suliman WA, Halabi J. Critical thinking, self-esteem, and state anxiety of nursing students. Nurse Educ Today. 2007 Feb;27(2):162-8. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2006.04.008. Epub 2006 Jul 20.
PubMed 16857300Islek I, Firat Kilic H, Cevheroglu S. The effect of acupressure therapy on test anxiety and vital signs in nursing students: a randomized controlled study. BMC Psychol. 2025 Nov 14;13(1):1265. doi: 10.1186/s40359-025-03599-8.
PubMed 41239405
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 5 Sep 2024. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Effect of Acupressure Therapy Applied to Nursing Students on Exam Anxiety and Vital Signs: A Randomızed Controlled Experımental Study
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06454799
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- Eastern Mediterranean U.
- Conditions
- EXAM ANXIETY, VITAL SIGNS
- Keywords
- ACUPRESSURE, EXAM ANXIETY, VITAL SIGNS, NURSING STUDENTS
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 118 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Eastern Mediterranean UniversityUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 28 Dec 2023 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 3 Jul 2024 (actual)
- Study completion
- 12 Jul 2024 (actual)
- First posted
- 12 Jun 2024 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
To examine the effect of acupressure therapy method applied to nursing students on exam anxiety and vital signs.
Detailed description
In nursing education, the Fundamentals of Nursing course, which includes the basic concepts, theories, principles and methods of nursing care and provides cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills, is the course where students first come into contact with the nursing profession. The aim of this course is to turn students into professional nurses in connection with theoretical knowledge, laboratory and clinical practice. In the Fundamentals of Nursing course, which forms the basis for other nursing profession courses; Following the explanation of the theoretical content in the classroom environment, the applications are shown with the demonstration method, and then psychomotor skills are tried to be gained by students making applications on various models and/or models in skill laboratories.
Different evaluation methods such as written, oral, practical-oral exams are used in the evaluation of courses. During this evaluation, nursing students experience different levels of anxiety and their exam performance is affected. There are many factors that affect the level of anxiety. Wafika and Halabi stated that anxiety in nursing students may be related to extra-individual, intra-individual or inter-individual forces; They stated that this may be caused by factors such as financial problems, long working hours, feeling of inadequacy, information overload, clinical pressure, lack of time to meet expectations for exams and personal needs. Anxiety is not always harmful; low and moderate levels of anxiety support the student's creativity and development, while high levels of anxiety can cause inattention and concentration problems. This may negatively affect student learning and lead to application errors and low academic performance in exams. In addition, exam anxiety causes emotional and behavioral changes, as well as physiological changes such as increased heart rate, difficulty breathing, muscle tension, and rapid breathing.
At this point, it is important to manage anxiety and different alternative therapy methods can be used for this. These methods include alternative therapies such as music therapy, gradual muscle relaxation exercises, hypnosis, imagination, aromatherapy and acupressure.
Acupressure (Shiatsu) is a massage technique based on traditional Chinese medicine, consisting of the words Shi = finger and atsu = pressure, and can be applied with fingers, hands, wrists, palms, knees or special stimulation bands. Acupressure aims to correct the disrupted energy flow by applying pressure to certain points on the meridians in the body, stimulating the body's self-healing abilities. Acupressure technique is noninvasive, safe and effective. Acupressure is not a substitute for other traditional treatments; Rather, it supplements and supports other improvement methods.
When the literature is examined; In the study conducted by Eunkyung and Jin-Hwa Park on nursing students, ear acupressure application was found to be effective in reducing the level of exam anxiety. Kristina et al. In a study conducted by, the effect of acupressure application, which was used to reduce stress non-pharmacologically in university students, was examined. It has been observed that it significantly reduces the stress response, decreases subjective stress scores, and increases correct responses. In a study by İnangil in which he investigated the effects of EFT and music therapy on test anxiety with 90 students, he concluded that there was a statistically significant decrease in the pulse rate of the EFT group.
When test anxiety is severe or permanent, students may not be able to adapt to the environment and the exam. As a result, he may not be able to use the information he has learned and knows in the exam. Therefore, it is important for students to recognize their anxiety and use different effective coping strategies to control them. At this point, managing students' test anxiety with effective methods is very important in terms of increasing academic success. For this reason, this research was planned to examine the effect of the acupressure therapy method applied to nursing students on exam anxiety and vital signs.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Supportive care
- Allocation
- Non-randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind (outcomes assessor)
- Number of arms
- 2
- Model description
- On the day of the Applied Oral Exam, which will be administered at the end of the semester within the scope of the Principles of Nursing course, each student in the Acupressure group will be taken to the appropriate classroom 15 minutes before taking the exam and will first fill out the "Personal Information Form", "State Exam Anxiety Scale" and "Vital Signs Tracking Chart". Then, acupressure will be applied to the student. After the application, the "State Test Anxiety Scale" and "Vital Signs Follow-up Chart" will be filled in again and then the student will be sent for the exam. The researcher who will conduct the research has an acupressure certificate and will perform the application directly to the students. The application will be carried out on 3 body points. Acupressure will be applied to each of these acupressure points for 1 minute.
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Acupressure group | Experimental | Behavioral: AkupressurOn the day of the Applied Oral Exam, which will be administered at the end of the semester within the scope of the Principles of Nursing course, each student in the Acupressure group will be taken to the appropriate classroom 15 minutes before taking the exam and will first fill out the "Personal Information Form", "State Exam Anxiety Scale" and "Vital Signs Tracking Chart". Then, acupressure will be applied to the student. After the application, the "State Test Anxiety Scale" and "Vital Signs Follow-up Chart" will be filled in again and then the student will be sent for the exam. The application will be carried out on 3 body points. These; Pericardium 6, Yintang and Shen men points. Acupressure will be applied to each of these acupressure points for 1 minute. |
| control group | No intervention | –On the day of the Applied Oral Exam, which will be administered at the end of the semester within the scope of the Principles of Nursing course, each student in the control group will be taken to the appropriate classroom 15 minutes before taking the exam and will first fill out the "Personal Information Form", "State Exam Anxiety Scale" and "Vital Signs Tracking Chart". After waiting 15 minutes without any practice, the "State Test Anxiety Scale" and "Vital Signs Tracking Chart" will be filled in again and then the student will be sent for the exam. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (3 listed)
- Being a 2nd year student at Eastern Mediterranean University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing.
- Volunteering to participate in the study,
- Studying in the Turkish department
Key exclusion criteria (3 listed)
- Not agreeing to participate in the research.
- Not taking the Fundamentals of Nursing course
- Using any alternative therapy method before the practical oral exam
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| AkupressurThe application will be carried out on 3 body points. These; Pericardium 6, Yintang and Shen men points. Acupressure will be applied to each of these acupressure points for 1 minute. | Behavioural | Acupressure group |
Primary outcome
Systolic pressure
Time frame: 1 day
A blood pressure monitor will be used for measurement, and blood pressure (mmHg) readings will be recorded by the researcher for monitoring purposes. Measurements will be taken every minute.
Oxygen Saturation
Time frame: 1 day
blood pressure monitor will be used for measurement, and oxygen saturation (SpO2) will be recorded by the researcher for monitoring purposes. Measurements will be taken every minute.
Pulse
Time frame: 1 day
A blood pressure monitor will be used for measurement, and pulse (BPM ) will be recorded by the researcher for monitoring purposes. Measurements will be taken every minute.
diastolic pressure
Time frame: 1 day
A blood pressure monitor will be used for measurement, and blood pressure (mmHg)
1 secondary outcome
State-Trait Anxiety Inventory
Time frame: 1 day
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 5 Sep 2024.
- Background: PubMed 34331752Lee E, Park JH. Effect of Acupressure on Pre-Exam Anxiety in Nursing Students. Altern Ther Health Med. 2023 Jul;29(5):158-163.
- Background: PubMed 19141364Kang YS, Choi SY, Ryu E. The effectiveness of a stress coping program based on mindfulness meditation on the stress, anxiety, and depression experienced by nursing students in Korea. Nurse Educ Today. 2009 Jul;29(5):538-43. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2008.12.003. Epub 2009 Jan 13.
- Background: PubMed 22579428McFadden KL, Healy KM, Hoversten KP, Ito TA, Hernandez TD. Efficacy of acupressure for non-pharmacological stress reduction in college students. Complement Ther Med. 2012 Aug;20(4):175-82. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2011.12.003. Epub 2012 Jan 4.
- Background: PubMed 16857300Suliman WA, Halabi J. Critical thinking, self-esteem, and state anxiety of nursing students. Nurse Educ Today. 2007 Feb;27(2):162-8. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2006.04.008. Epub 2006 Jul 20.
- Derived from this study: PubMed 41239405Islek I, Firat Kilic H, Cevheroglu S. The effect of acupressure therapy on test anxiety and vital signs in nursing students: a randomized controlled study. BMC Psychol. 2025 Nov 14;13(1):1265. doi: 10.1186/s40359-025-03599-8.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No. The investigators don't have a plan at the moment
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Hülya Fırat Kılıç study director
Eastern Mediterranean University
İnsel İşlek principal investigator
Eastern Mediterranean University
Seda Cevheroğlu study chair
Eastern Mediterranean University
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Akupressur in people with EXAM ANXIETY and VITAL SIGNS, run by Eastern Mediterranean University at 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye).
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 3 inclusion and 3 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 5 Sep 2024. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye). Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Systolic pressure (time frame: 1 day). The study lists 4 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT06454799, which also lists 5 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 5 Sep 2024.