The Tapping Evidence Base
Test Anxiety & Students

Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) to Reduce Exam Anxiety in Turkish Nursing Students

Vural, P., Korpe, G., Inangil, D. · European Journal of Integrative Medicine · 2019

Outcome study👥 80 participantsPreliminary✓ Source-checked📍 Turkey
In plain English. Eighty Turkish nursing students did three short EFT sessions to help with exam anxiety before a big test. Their anxiety on multiple validated measures dropped significantly, and over half reported meaningful relief in how they felt about the exam. There was no comparison group, so it can't rule out that some students would have calmed down anyway as the exam approached.

What they found

80
people took part

State and trait anxiety, as well as exam anxiety, statistically significantly decreased after three EFT sessions, with more than half of students showing success in subjective exam anxiety reduction.

How the study worked

Who took partsecond-year nursing students in a Women's Health and Diseases Nursing course (n=80)
What they didParticipants received tapping and were measured before and after, without a separate comparison group.
Measured withBeck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Subjective Units of Distress (SUD)

💡 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 randomized controlled design.

The full record

DesignOutcome study
Participants80 people
Populationsecond-year nursing students in a Women's Health and Diseases Nursing course
Outcome measuresBeck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Subjective Units of Distress (SUD)
JournalEuropean Journal of Integrative Medicine
Year2019
CountryTurkey
LanguageEnglish
MethodEFT / tapping
Publication typeStudy / trial
Verification✓ Confirmed against the primary source
Verification note. One secondary source described the sample as '4th-year' nursing students rather than 'second-year' as recorded; not changed pending further confirmation, flagged for follow-up.

Read the original study →

Cite this study

APA

Vural, P., Korpe, G., & Inangil, D. (2019). Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) to Reduce Exam Anxiety in Turkish Nursing Students. European Journal of Integrative Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eujim.2019.101002

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

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THE TAPPING EVIDENCE BASE Test Anxiety & Students 80 participants WHAT THEY FOUND State and trait anxiety, as well as examanxiety, statistically significantlydecreased after three EFT sessions… Outcome study · 80 participants Vural · 2019 · evidence.thetappingsolution.com