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Behavioral treatment of debilitating test anxiety among medical students
Author(s) -
Powell Douglas H.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.20043
Subject(s) - psychology , test anxiety , anxiety , test (biology) , clinical psychology , psychotherapist , psychiatry , paleontology , biology
This article presents and illustrates the behavioral treatment of medical students and physicians whose debilitating test anxiety was associated with their failure to pass the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) or a specialty board test. Seventy‐two medical trainees were treated consecutively because of at least one failure to pass these professional examinations. Behavioral treatment focused on their anxiety, which resulted in the “dual deficits” of poor test preparation, poor test performance, or both. Treatment featured progressive muscle relaxation, systematic desensitization, the self‐control triad, behavioral rehearsal, and a psychoeducational component. Ninety‐three percent of the clients eventually passed the examination while in treatment. Pass rates for this group were substantially higher than the national average for repeat USMLE test takers. Limitations of this treatment method are that it seemed too elaborate for some medical trainees and was less effective with those who had difficulty evoking anxiety. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol/In Session.

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