The Effect of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) on Stress and Anxiety in Nursing Students: A Pilot Study

Patterson, S. L. (2016). The effect of emotional freedom technique on stress and anxiety in nursing students: A pilot study. Nurse Education Today, 40, 104-110.

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Highlights

Nursing students experience considerable stress and anxiety in their education.

Emotional freedom technique (EFT) has been shown to decrease perceived anxiety in many groups.

A mixed methods design was used including both a qualitative questionnaire to capture participants subjective experience and a quantitative pretest-posttest design used to determine the efficacy of EFT in decreasing anxiety in a convenience sample of associate degree nursing students.

Three (3) instruments were used for measurement, the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and a qualitative questionnaire.

Decreases in anxiety that were statistically significant (p = .05) were identified on the STAI and PSS; participants reported feeling calmer and more relaxed after using the technique.

EFT may be an effective tool in this group as well as other healthcare professionals.