title: The Application of Expressive Writing as an Intervention for Test Anxiety, Illustrated with the Toronto Police Exams
Creators: name: Yee, John
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2525

description: Test anxiety is a debilitating physical, cognitive, and behavioural reaction to a test. Most of the research has focused on its occurrence during a test, but there has been less attention on its effects during the preparation for a test. The present study explored expressive writing as an intervention for eight law enforcement bailiffs dealing with test anxiety while preparing for their Toronto Police Entrance Test. It is an important test for those with the aspiration of becoming a police constable in Toronto, Canada. The small-scale, mixed-methods study focused on whether expressive writing would help those candidates self-reflect on their test anxiety and manage it. The intervention took place a month before the candidates were due to take the test. The candidates completed a Test Anxiety Inventory before they started the intervention to determine whether they had high or low test anxiety. They were then given an expressive writing journal and asked to write their thoughts about their test anxiety for 25 minutes during one supervised session uninterrupted. In addition to these written entries, the candidates were also asked to complete a Thought Record Questionnaire before and after their writing during that session. They were also encouraged to write in their journals unsupervised and beyond the session for a week should they wish to, and they were also asked to continue recording the intensity of their test anxiety indicated on the Thought Record for the next four days. A semi-structured interview was conducted after writing in their journal and Thought Record during the first session and again after one week. Content analysis was used to analyse the data that emerged from those data collection tools. The results revealed that most participants benefitted from the intervention as it helped them reflect on their thoughts around test anxiety. Participants who wrote more offsetting statements than negative statements in their expressive writing journals were able to retain the alleviation in test anxiety for the next four days. The participants who benefitted the most from the expressive writing intervention were the four candidates who adequately prepared for the test. They satisfied the condition of writing more offsetting statements than negative statements. As a result of the intervention, they felt more self-confident and decided to apply to write the test. Four of the participants did not register for the police test as other types of stressors besides test anxiety interfered with their preparation. Out of those four, two partially benefitted from expressive writing since they were able to retain the alleviation in test anxiety for four days after expressive writing. The writing produced a cathartic effect as it offered them a way to self-reflect on the problems they were facing, but they wrote more negative statements than offsetting statements. The study showed that expressive writing can be an effective self-managed resource for test anxiety; but for candidates with more complex needs, it requires a longer implementation or a combination with other supportive interventions. For a highly regulated and stressful career option, such as the police force, expressive writing can be introduced effectively as part of a wider mental health education programme.