Behavioral treatment of debilitating test anxiety among medical students

Journal of Clinical Psychology
Douglas H Powell

Abstract

This article presents and illustrates the behavioral treatment of medical students and physicians whose debilitating test anxiety was associated with their failure to pass the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) or a specialty board test. Seventy-two medical trainees were treated consecutively because of at least one failure to pass these professional examinations. Behavioral treatment focused on their anxiety, which resulted in the "dual deficits" of poor test preparation, poor test performance, or both. Treatment featured progressive muscle relaxation, systematic desensitization, the self-control triad, behavioral rehearsal, and a psychoeducational component. Ninety-three percent of the clients eventually passed the examination while in treatment. Pass rates for this group were substantially higher than the national average for repeat USMLE test takers. Limitations of this treatment method are that it seemed too elaborate for some medical trainees and was less effective with those who had difficulty evoking anxiety.

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Citations

Jun 15, 2007·Teaching and Learning in Medicine·Erle C H Lim, Raymond C S Seet
Aug 26, 2009·Academic Medicine : Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges·Linda Laatsch
May 18, 2006·Journal of General Internal Medicine·Jo-Ann Reteguiz
Dec 7, 2006·American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education·Sujit S SansgiryKavita Sail
Dec 2, 2010·The Journal of Nursing Education·Uri MarkmanMalka Ehrenfeld
Apr 5, 2008·Cortex; a Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior·Gregory V Jones, Maryanne Martin
Apr 28, 2006·Internal Medicine Journal·E C-H LimR C S Seet
Jun 4, 2015·The Clinical Teacher·Michael GreenJohn Encandela
Dec 10, 2016·Nursing Forum·Deborah L Miller, Jo-Ann V Sawatzky
Mar 7, 2017·The Journal of Nursing Education·Brenna L Quinn, Anya Peters
Aug 11, 2017·The International Journal of Pharmacy Practice·Muhammad A HadiEjaz Cheema
Dec 20, 2014·American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education·Kingston Rajiah, Coumaravelou Saravanan
Jul 1, 2021·Journal of Professional Nursing : Official Journal of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing·Robert OwegiShelley Arvin
Jul 10, 2021·The Surgical Clinics of North America·Amy HanJeremy Lipman
Sep 1, 2021·Journal of Complementary & Integrative Medicine·Farrahdilla HamzahSafiya Amaran

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