Assessment of Test Anxiety, Psychological Distress and Academic Motivation among Pharmacy Students in a Private University of Malaysia Pharmacy Students’ Test Anxiety
International Pharmacy Acta,
Vol. 8 No. 1 (2025),
6 April 2025
,
Page e5: 1-8
Abstract
Psychological well-being is an essential factor to ensure an excellent academic performance during undergraduate studies. Students are exposed to a wide range of stressors during their study period, including assignment submission and examination, the latter being related to test anxiety and associated with psychological distress and amotivation among students. To assess the prevalence of test anxiety and psychological distress among pharmacy students in a private university, in addition to determining the association among test anxiety, psychological distress and academic motivation. A cross-sectional observational study was conducted using a combination questionnaire that consisted of 10 items from the Westside Test Anxiety Scale (WTAS), additional items from the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, and 28 items from the Academic Motivation Scale, distributed online to all undergraduate pharmacy students enrolled in the 2022-23 academic session. A total of 179 responses were received, yielding a response rate of 56%. The overall prevalence of test anxiety and psychological distress was estimated at 54.19% and 61.45%, respectively. Findings revealed that a significant correlation exists between the cumulative scores of test anxiety and psychological distress (r = 0.56, p<0.0001). Pharmacy students in the private university experienced a high level of test anxiety along with a high level of psychological distress. Therefore, efforts to reduce test anxiety and their psychological distress should be made to optimise students’ learning experience during their pharmacy program.
- test anxiety
- psychological distress
- amotivation
- pharmacy undergraduates
- Malaysia
How to Cite
References
Shavkidinova D, Suyunova F, Kholdarova J. Education is an important factor in human and country development. Current Research Journal of Pedagogics. 2023 Jan 16;4(01):27-34.
Zeidner M. Test anxiety in educational contexts: Concepts, findings, and future directions. In Emotion in education. Academic press; 2007, p165-184.
Zollar U, Ben-Chain D. Gender differences in examination type, test anxiety, and academic achievement in college science: a case study. Science education. 1990;74(6):597-608.
Spielberger CD. Assessment of state and trait anxiety: Conceptual and methodological issues. Southern Psychologist. 1985.
Vitasari P, Wahab MN, Othman A, Awang MG. A research for identifying study anxiety sources among university students. International education studies. 2010 May;3(2):189-96.
Karatas H, Alci B, Aydin H. Correlation among high school students’ test anxiety, academic performance and points of university entrance exam. Academic Journal. 2013; 8:919-926.
Shireen H, Masooma H, Farhana A, Sinar A. Factors causing exam anxiety in medical students. Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association. 2008; 58:167-170.
Dendle C, Baulch J, Pellicano R, Hay M, Lichtwark I, Ayoub, et al. Medical student psychological distress and academic performance. Medical teacher. 2018; 40(12):1257-1263.
Aziz N, Serafi AH. Increasing levels of test anxiety and psychological distress with advancing years of medical education. British J Med Health Res. 2017; 4(3):40-42.
Bayram N, Bilgel N. The prevalence and socio-demographic correlations of depression, anxiety and stress among a group of university students. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology. 2008; 43:667-672.
Buzdar MA, Mohsin MN, Akbar R, Mohammad N. Students' academic performance and its relationship with their intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Journal of Educational Research. 2017;20(1):74.
Saravanan C, Kingston R, Gin M. Is test anxiety a problem among medical students: a cross sectional study on outcome of test anxiety among medical students. Int J Psychol Stud. 2014; 6(3):24.
Rastegar M, Akbarzadeh M, Heidari N. The darker side of motivation: Demotivation and its relation with two variables of anxiety among Iranian EFL learners. ISRN Education, 1-8.
Deci EL, Ryan RM, Deci EL, Ryan RM. Conceptualizations of intrinsic motivation and self-determination. Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior, 1985; 11-40.
Chan SL, Ng LV. A review of academic amotivation and the application of miracle question among adolescents. International Journal of Education, Psychology and Counselling (IJEPC). 2020 Jun;5(5):206-14.
Fears KS, SaPhenixx H, Jones D, Rennie N. The impact of motivation on the relationship of academic stress and psychological well-being among college students (Master's thesis, Brenau University), 2018
King MD. Motivation and education: performance, commitment, and satisfaction among pharmacy students. Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 2013; 682.
Rajiah K, Coumaravelou S, Ying OW. Relationship of test anxiety, psychological distress and academic motivation among first year undergraduate pharmacy students. International Journal of Applied Psychology. 2014; 4(2):68-72.
Driscoll R. Westside test anxiety scale validation. Education Resources Information Center. 2007.
Kessler RC, Barker PR, Colpe LJ, Epstein JF, Gfroerer JC, Hiripi E, et al. Screening for serious mental illness in the general population. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2003; 60(2):184-189.
Vallerand RJ, Pelletier LG, Blais MR, Briere NM, Senecal CB, Valleires EF. Academic motivation scale (AMS-C28): College (CEGEP) version. Educational and Psychological Measurement. 1993; 52:323-349.
Duraku ZH. Factors influencing test anxiety among university students. The European Journal of Social & Behavioural Sciences. 2017; 18(1):69-78.
Taylor KM, Harding G. The pharmacy degree: The student experience of professional training. Pharmacy Education. 2007; 7.
- Abstract Viewed: 89 times
- IPA-2025 Vol8i1-e5 Downloaded: 130 times