The Tapping Evidence Base
Test Anxiety & Students · Anxiety

Tapping your way to success: using Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) to reduce anxiety and improve communication skills in social work students

Boath, E., Good, R., Tsaroucha, A., Stewart, A., Pitch, S., Boughey, A. · Journal of Social Work Education · 2017

Outcome study 👥 45 participants Preliminary ✓ Source-checked 📍 United Kingdom
In plain English. Forty-five social work students, a group known for high placement-related anxiety, tried EFT after a stress-inducing mock lecture. They reported significantly less distress and anxiety afterward, and interviews found students experienced tapping as calming and useful beyond the classroom. This is a pilot study without a control group, so it establishes feasibility more than definitive efficacy.

What they found

45
Forty-five social work students, a group known for high placement-related anxiety, tried EFT after a stress-inducing mock lecture.

Quantitative findings indicated participants reported significantly less subjective distress and anxiety after using EFT, following a 15-minute anxiety-inducing lecture.

How the study worked

Who took part social work students prone to placement and academic anxiety (n=45)
What they did Participants received tapping and were measured before and after, without a separate comparison group.
Measured with subjective distress and anxiety ratings

💡 Where this could help

If findings like these hold up in larger trials, the promise is simple: a low-cost, self-administered tool that could reach people struggling with test anxiety & students who can't easily access traditional care — at home, between appointments, or where there aren't enough clinicians to go around.

🔬 What to study next

The natural next step: a head-to-head trial against an established treatment like CBT, and a larger sample to confirm the effect.

The full record

DesignOutcome study
Participants45 people
Populationsocial work students prone to placement and academic anxiety
Outcome measuressubjective distress and anxiety ratings
JournalJournal of Social Work Education
Year2017
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
MethodEFT / Tapping
Publication typeStudy / trial
Verification✓ Confirmed against the primary source

Read the original study →

Cite this study

APA

Boath, E., Good, R., Tsaroucha, A., Stewart, A., Pitch, S., & Boughey, A. (2017). Tapping your way to success: using Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) to reduce anxiety and improve communication skills in social work students. Journal of Social Work Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2017.1297394

This record is part of the Tapping Evidence Base — an openly-sourced, fully-referenced directory of the research on EFT/Tapping. Explore more studies on Test Anxiety & Students · Anxiety

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THE TAPPING EVIDENCE BASE Test Anxiety & Students 45 participants WHAT THEY FOUND Quantitative findings indicated participantsreported significantly less subjectivedistress and anxiety after using… Outcome study · 45 participants Boath · 2017 · evidence.thetappingsolution.com