The Tapping Evidence Base
Test Anxiety & Students

Effectiveness of music therapy and Emotional Freedom Technique on test anxiety in Turkish nursing students: A randomised controlled trial

Inangil, D., Vural, P., Dogan, S., Korpe, G. · European Journal of Integrative Medicine · 2020

Randomized trial👥 90 participants⚖️ vs. music therapy; no-treatment controlHigher rigor✓ Source-checked📍 Turkey
In plain English. Ninety Turkish nursing students facing a nerve-wracking hands-on clinical exam were split into music therapy, EFT, or no intervention. Both music and tapping brought down students' pre-exam anxiety significantly more than doing nothing. This is a clean three-arm randomized trial with a decent sample size.

What they found

90
people took part

Mean anxiety scores in both the music and EFT groups were significantly lower than control after the interventions (p < .05).

How the study worked

Who took partnursing students before an Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) (n=90)
What they didIn a randomized controlled trial, participants were randomly assigned to receive tapping or a comparison condition, then measured and compared.
Compared withmusic therapy; no-treatment control
Measured withSituational Anxiety Scale, Vital Signs Form

💡 Where this could help

Picture a nursing student the night before a make-or-break clinical exam, too anxious to sleep or focus. If this pattern holds up, it suggests schools could teach a five-minute technique that students then own and can use on their own before any high-stakes practical test, no counselor required and no cost after the initial lesson.

🔬 What to study next

Since vital signs were already being recorded alongside the anxiety scale, a fuller version of this study could report heart rate and blood pressure changes explicitly and add salivary cortisol sampled right before the exam, to see whether the subjective calm nursing students report matches a lower physiological stress response walking into the OSCE. Comparing tapping against music across a full semester of repeated high-stakes exams, rather than just one, would clarify whether this is a trainable skill or a one-off soothing effect.

The full record

DesignRandomized trial
Participants90 people
Populationnursing students before an Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE)
Comparison groupmusic therapy; no-treatment control
Outcome measuresSituational Anxiety Scale, Vital Signs Form
JournalEuropean Journal of Integrative Medicine
Year2020
CountryTurkey
LanguageEnglish
MethodEFT / tapping
Publication typeStudy / trial
Verification✓ Confirmed against the primary source

Read the original study →

Cite this study

APA

Inangil, D., Vural, P., Dogan, S., & Korpe, G. (2020). Effectiveness of music therapy and Emotional Freedom Technique on test anxiety in Turkish nursing students: A randomised controlled trial. European Journal of Integrative Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eujim.2019.101041

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

Share this study

A ready-made graphic — right-click or long-press to save the image.

Show shareable card
THE TAPPING EVIDENCE BASE Test Anxiety & Students 90 participants WHAT THEY FOUND Mean anxiety scores in both the music andEFT groups were significantly lower thancontrol after the interventions (p… Randomized trial · 90 participants Inangil · 2020 · evidence.thetappingsolution.com