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Stress & Cortisol · Test Anxiety & Students

Emotional Freedom Technique for Stress Reduction in Nursing Students: A Pilot Project

Hendricks-Patel, S., Harvey, K. · Journal of Nursing Education · 2025

Outcome studyPreliminary✓ Source-checked📍 United States
In plain English. First-semester nursing students — a group known for high stress — attended EFT sessions across a 13-week pilot program, and the approach came through as both doable and effective at easing their distress and perceived stress. The abstract doesn't give exact participant numbers or a specific score change, so the size of the benefit isn't fully quantifiable from what's published, but it points to tapping as a practical, low-cost option for a famously stressed student population.

What they found

A 13-week quasi-experimental pilot of EFT sessions for first-semester nursing students found the technique was feasible and effective for reducing distress and perceived stress, though the abstract does not report a specific participant count or numeric effect size.

How the study worked

Who took partfirst-semester nursing students
What they didParticipants received tapping and were measured before and after, without a separate comparison group.
Measured withSubjective Units of Distress Scale, Perceived Stress Scale-10

The full record

DesignOutcome study
Populationfirst-semester nursing students
Outcome measuresSubjective Units of Distress Scale, Perceived Stress Scale-10
JournalJournal of Nursing Education
Year2025
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
MethodEFT / tapping
Publication typeStudy / trial
Verification✓ Confirmed against the primary source

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Cite this study

APA

Hendricks-Patel, S., & Harvey, K. (2025). Emotional Freedom Technique for Stress Reduction in Nursing Students: A Pilot Project. Journal of Nursing Education. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20250108-03

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 Stress & Cortisol · Test Anxiety & Students

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THE TAPPING EVIDENCE BASE Stress & Cortisol ✓ Outcome study WHAT THEY FOUND A 13-week quasi-experimental pilot of EFTsessions for first-semester nursing studentsfound the technique was… Outcome study Hendricks-Patel · 2025 · evidence.thetappingsolution.com