Test Anxiety in Dental Students: A Study at the Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Introduction: Students' chronic test anxiety may lead to their lowering of educational standard and even dropping out of school. Therefore, this research was conducted in 2018 to study the test anxiety in dental students of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences in southwest of Iran. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive research, the standard questionnaire (TAI) (Test Anxiety Inventory) was used to measure students' test anxiety. Sampling method was census by selecting all general dental students. The descriptive and inferential statistics and the software SPSS version 22 were used to analyse the data. Results: 160 students who had at least one year of study had participated in this study, of whom 38.8% were male and 61.2% were female students. Also, 93.8% of students were single and the rest married. According to the results of this research, the students' test anxiety was assessed in four levels: severe anxiety (9.8%), moderate anxiety (32.7%), mild anxiety (37.5%) and non-anxiety (19.5%). 0.5% of the students did not respond. In this research, no significant relationship was found between gender, satisfaction with field of study, being native, age and test anxiety (p>0.05). However, a significant relationship was found between the satisfaction with field of study and the level of test anxiety (p=0.04). Discussion and Conclusion: Considering the negative effects of test anxiety on academic performance of students and considering the prevalence of test anxiety and its negative effects on the individual and the educational system, for the sake of the mental health of the students and preventing their physical, psychological, academic and economic damage, an appropriate planning by universities and educational institutions is necessary. Based on their level of anxiety, different behavioural and even medicinal methods can be used to reduce students' test anxiety.