Reducing test anxiety with Stress Inoculation Training
Federico Tubaldi, Francesca Poeta
Stress Inoculation Training (SIT) is a cognitive behavioural model suitable for primary prevention and
therapeutic treatment in mental health. To-date, the effectiveness of this model has been demonstrated
for a wide range of behavioural problems and disorders. This review aims to evaluate critically the
literature that has documented the effectiveness of SIT to reduce test anxiety. Ten studies were
examined by considering a series of methodological features, such as the type of participants, the
sample selection criteria, the type of training, the type of control group and the presence of a follow-up.
Furthermore, the effects of SIT on four discomfort variables (trait test anxiety, state test anxiety, trait
anxiety and stress) and two performance variables (test results and academic results) were analysed. It
was found that SIT is able to reduce brooding and physiological hyperactivation associated with test
anxiety, whereas an increase in exam performance does not occur. These findings are discussed in the
light of the efficacy of other treatments within behaviour therapy which aim to reduce test anxiety.
Keywords
Test anxiety, Academic performance, Stress Inoculation Training.
