CHANGES IN GENERALIZED AND STATE ANXIETY ASSOCIATED WITH ONE-DAY EMOTIONAL FREEDOM TECHNIQUE TRAINING AMONG MIDWIFERY STUDENTS: A ONE-GROUP PRETEST–POSTTEST STUDY

Abstract

Anxiety is common among midwifery students and may impair academic performance, clinical competence, and well-being, yet scalable, low-cost interventions in educational settings remain limited. Evidence on Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), a brief, group-based mind–body approach, among midwifery students is scarce, and generalized and state anxiety have rarely been examined together. This study aimed to evaluate changes in generalized and state anxiety associated with a one-day EFT training and explore the role of self-practice frequency. A quasi-experimental one-group pretest–posttest study was conducted among 114 seventh-semester midwifery students at Universitas Jenderal Achmad Yani, Indonesia. Participants attended a one-day group EFT training and were encouraged to self-practice for one week. Generalized anxiety (primary outcome) was assessed with the Indonesian GAD-7 at baseline (T0) and one-week follow-up (T2), and state anxiety (secondary outcome) with the Indonesian STAI-State at T0 and immediately post-training (T1). Data were analysed using paired-samples t-tests and an exploratory one-way ANOVA. At baseline, most students reported mild to moderate generalized anxiety and moderate state anxiety. Mean GAD-7 scores decreased significantly from T0 to T2, and mean STAI-State scores decreased significantly from T0 to T1. Students who practiced EFT one to four times during follow-up showed numerically larger GAD-7 reductions than non-practitioners, but between-group differences were not significant. A one-day EFT workshop was associated with lower generalized and state anxiety scores; however, without a control group, these changes cannot be attributed to EFT alone. The workshop may be a feasible, low-cost option worth testing in controlled trials with longer follow-up.