The Effect of Imagery Technique on Self-Effectiveness-Efficacy and Anxiety Levels of Nursing Students

Nursing students need to be prepared and supported to tackle problems that they are likely to experience in the future. With this in mind, this research was conducted to determine the effect of imagery technique applied in practical courses on the self-effectiveness-efficacy and anxiety levels of the nursing students.

This research was designed as a randomised controlled experimental study. The research included intervention (40 students) and control (45 students) groups, and a pre-test and post-test was applied.

The research was conducted between February 2021 and May 2021 with second-year students in the Nursing Department of the Faculty of Health Sciences of a state university in Turkey.

Interventions: The students were informed about the purpose and scope of the study and the intervention. Students who volunteered to participate in the study were randomised into groups. Afterwards, 'Personal Information Form', 'Self-Effectiveness-Efficacy Scale' and 'State-Trait Anxiety Inventory' were distributed to all students as the pre-test.

Intervention group: The imagery technique was applied to the students in this group on the day of the laboratory practice, before the lesson, once a week for 4 weeks. The laboratory practice consisted of 6 weeks. Pre-test was performed on the first week, followed by 4 weeks of imagery technique, and the pre-test was performed on the final week. In each application of the imagery technique, four scenarios that could be encountered in clinical practice that required skill practice were used for 30 minutes (Table 1).