Relationships between Nursing Students’ Skill Mastery, Test Anxiety, Self-Efficacy, and Facial Expressions: A Preliminary Observational Study

Test anxiety and self-efficacy significantly influence the mastery of nursing skills. Facial expression recognition tools are central components to recognising these elements. This study investigated the frequent facial expressions conveyed by nursing students and examined the relationships between nursing skill mastery, test anxiety, self-efficacy, and facial expressions in a test-taking situation. Thirty-three second-year nursing students who were attending a university in a Korean metropolitan city participated. Test anxiety, self-efficacy, and facial expressions were collected while the students inserted indwelling catheters. Using Microsoft Azure software, the researchers examined the students’ facial expressions. Negative facial expressions, such as anger, disgust, sadness, and surprise, were more common during the test-taking situation than the practice trial. Fear was positively correlated with anxiety. None of the facial expressions had significant relationships with self-efficacy; however, disgust was positively associated with nursing skill mastery. The facial expressions during the practice and test-taking situations were similar; however, fear and disgust may have been indicators of test anxiety and skill mastery. To create a screening tool for detecting and caring for students’ emotions, further studies should explore students’ facial expressions that were not evaluated in this study.