The effectiveness of a school-based test anxiety intervention at primary-level

Abstract

Background Test anxiety (TA) is characterised as an extreme fear of assessment which has a debilitating effect on performance. Despite growing concern over TA in primary-level education in Ireland, research on evidence-based intervention is limited.

Aims The aim of this research was to determine the effectiveness of a school-based TA intervention in an Irish primary setting. The goal of this was to extend the research on TA intervention at primary-level, and subsequently, inform Educational Psychologists of evidence-based intervention for practice. Weems’ (2015) programme was chosen for evaluation as it has shown promising evidence in reducing TA in targeted group settings. In the move towards inclusive educational practice, this study aimed to determine the effectiveness of the programme in a universal setting.

Methods Prior to the main study, a systematic review was carried out to examine the existing research on school-based TA intervention. Eight studies were identified in this review. It was concluded that the evidence for school-based intervention remains limited due to methodological weaknesses, statistically non-significant findings, and a lack of generalisability to an Irish context. This review revealed promising evidence for Weems’ (2015) multi-modal TA programme. Consequently, this programme was chosen for evaluation in the main study. The main study employed a quantitative research design in the form of a cluster randomised control trial. Two fourth class groups were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 22) or a waitlist control group (n = 17). TA was measured as the primary outcome with ‘self-efficacy for academic achievement’ and ‘emotion regulation’ measured as secondary outcomes. Two emotion regulation strategies were examined, ‘cognitive reappraisal’ (CR) and ‘expressive suppression’ (ES). Data was compared between groups and within groups at three timepoints: pre-intervention, post-intervention, and six-week follow-up.

Results Data analysis of participants included in pre-intervention and post-intervention data revealed a statistically significant reduction in TA in the intervention group from pre-intervention to post-intervention with a moderate effect size, whilst the control group did not demonstrate any significant changes. There was no statistically significant time*group interaction, however, despite a medium effect size. TA outcomes were maintained at a six-week follow-up with a large effect size from pre-intervention, and with further significant reductions from post-intervention to six-week follow-up with a small effect size in the follow-up sample of the intervention group. Significant reductions were also observed from pre-intervention to post-intervention and to follow-up in the control group follow-up sample, although a high attrition rate threatened the validity of these findings. A significant reduction in the use of ES strategies was also observed in the intervention group with a moderate effect size in a 2x2 ANOVA, although this significance was not detected in a 3x2 ANOVA; this was attributed to the increased comparisons of this analysis which reduces statistical power. No significant improvements were observed in academic self-efficacy or CR across either group or at any timepoint.

Conclusions The findings from this initial study provide promising evidence for the effectiveness of this intervention as a universal programme in reducing TA and ES in Irish primary-level pupils, although preliminary given the absence of time*group interactions, mixed findings for the original participant sample and follow-up sample, and study limitations. Future research which addresses the limitations of this study, for example with a larger sample size and broader age group, would be beneficial in strengthening this evidence and generalisability of results.