The effectiveness of EMDR group application in reducing exam anxiety in senior high school students

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Group Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) in reducing test anxiety among high school senior students. The research was conducted with 12th-grade students attending an Anatolian High School in Bingöl province, involving 18 students (experimental group: 9, control group: 9) who exhibited high and very high levels of test anxiety. The experimental group received a 5-session Group EMDR intervention, while the control group received no intervention. Pre-test, mid-test, and post-test data, along with one-month follow-up data, were collected using the Westside Test Anxiety Scale. Mid-test and follow-up measurements were evaluated for exploratory purposes; the primary analysis focused on pre-post test comparisons. For inter-group comparisons (Mann-Whitney U test) and dependent group comparisons (Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test), effect sizes were reported using the formula r = Z/√N, where Z is the obtained test statistic and N is the total sample size. The results indicated a significant reduction in test anxiety scores from pre-test to post-test in students who received Group EMDR (effect size: r = 0.64). The EMDR protocol was designed based on Shapiro's Adaptive Information Processing Theory. This research highlights Group EMDR as a cost-effective, practical, and socially supportive method for school-based interventions. Its particular focus on targeting the cognitive-emotional components of anxiety makes this method prominent in combating test anxiety. Being one of the first experimental studies in this field in Turkey, this study makes a significant contribution to the literature.