Anxiety levels among health sciences students during their first visit to the dissection room

• Main Authors: Carmen Romo-Barrientos, Juan José Criado-Álvarez, Jaime González-González, Isabel Ubeda-Bañon, Alicia Flores-Cuadrado, Daniel Saiz-Sánchez, Antonio Viñuela, Jose Luis Martin-Conty, Teresa Simón, Alino Martinez-Marcos, Alicia Mohedano-Moriano
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2020-04-01
• Series: BMC Medical Education
• Subjects: Anatomy education; Dissection; Prosection; Anxiety; Health sciences
• Online Access: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12909-020-02027-2

Abstract Background The teaching of human anatomy is often based on practices of cadaver dissection and prosected specimens. However, exposure to human cadavers might be stressful and anxiety-inducing for students. The aim of this study is to explore the degree of satisfaction and anxiety among first-year students in the Medicine, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy and Nursing programmes at the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (Spain) who are experiencing their first dissection/prosection practice to develop stress coping strategies. Methods A total of 204 health sciences students participated in this study. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was used to evaluate anxiety. Results ‘State Anxiety’ (SA) decreased significantly throughout the course (p < 0.05), from 20.7 ± 19.29 to 13.7 ± 11.65 points. Statistical differences (p < 0.05) in SA were found between the different health sciences, and pre-practice SA was significantly different from post-practice SA. The students with the highest pre-practice SA levels were nursing students (31.8 ± 33.7 points), but medical students had the highest post-practice SA levels (18.4 ± 12.82 points). Conclusions Although students were satisfied with dissection practices (96.8% of them recommended that the practices be retained for future courses), the experience can provoke stressful responses that must be addressed using advanced preparation and coping mechanisms, especially among medical and nursing students.