Test anxiety: perceptions of American community college nursing students

Background As policy makers focus on the importance of higher education, college enrollment stands at an all-time high (National Center for Education Statistics 2015). This increased enrollment results in a rise in the number of students with disabilities. In higher education, freshman with disabilities increased fourfold between 1978 and 1994, changing from 2.6% of the freshman class to 9.2% (Henderson, 1995, as cited in Kurth and Mellard 2006). Students with disabilities maintain the legal right to request and use Abstract Background: Nowadays, there are common phenomena among college nursing students who reported increasingly test anxiety. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to increase understanding of American community college nursing students and their experiences using anextended time and other form of supportive accommodation to address test anxiety. Methods: This study utilized focus group interview and carefully selected eight participants to join this research. The authors completed coding, categorizing, and identification of themes based on Moustakes’ (1994, in Phenomenological research methods. Sage, Thousand Oaks) approach to data analysis. A transcription of the focus group recording was read to inform a general impression of the experiences of our participants. A final list of significant statements was developed, and from this list the authors grouped them into larger units of information and from these units, identified common themes (Creswell 2013 in Qualitative inquiry and research design: choosing among five approaches. Sage, Thousand Oaks). Results: Implementation of, and data analysis from, an eight-member focus group interview revealed six themes: (a) students’ feelings of being anxious and overwhelmed, (b) the impact of nursing school stress, (c) the perceived benefits of using test accommodations, (d) environmental influences, (e) challenges and supportive structures for securing accommodations, and (f ) metaperception of stigmatization. Conclusions: In this study, students reported a benefit from using extended time for testing and noted the importance of the testing environment as an essential feature of the accommodation. Challenges faced by students included the ordeal of getting a diagnosis and potential for stigmatization. Participants indicated teachers provided essential support during this process. Study results suggest extended time accommodation provides an added level of fairness in the process of learning evaluation.