The Effects of Exercise and Sport Science Objective Structured Clinical Examination on Students’ Stress Response and Academic Achievement

  1. Burgos Postigo, S. 1
  2. Fernández Elías, V.E. 1
  3. Bustamante Sánchez, A. 1
  4. Ramírez Adrados, A. 1
  5. Martínez Pascual, B. 1
  6. González de Ramos, C. 1
  7. Fernández Martínez, S. 1
  8. Clemente Suárez, V.J. 1
  1. 1 Universidad Europea de Madrid
    info

    Universidad Europea de Madrid

    Madrid, España

    ROR https://ror.org/04dp46240

Proceedings:
28th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS)

Publisher: European College of Sport Science

Year of publication: 2023

Congress: 28th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS Paris 2023), 4-7 July 2023

Type: Conference paper

DOI: 10.1080/0142159X.2020.1803251 GOOGLE SCHOLAR

Sustainable development goals

Abstract

Introduction The objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is a method for assessing clinical competencies and skills widely used in health careers (e.g. medicine, physiotherapy). The use of OSCE to assess competencies in social sciences students is not usual and there is a need to research its convenience. The aim of this study was to analyze the autonomic stress response of Exercise and Sport Sciences Degree (ESS) students in their OSCE.. Methods We analyzed, in 88 undergraduate students (72 men and 16 women; 24.5±3.5 years old; 23.5±3.0 Kg·m-2), the autonomic stress response, cortical arousal, subjective distress perception, and the expected academic achievement before and after the OSCE. Results All the heart rate variability results showed that the ESS students had an anticipatory stress response before the OSCE that decreased after it (HRmin: 6.7%; HRmax: 9.0%; HRmed: 10.4%; RMSSD: 32.0%; PNN50: 66.3%; LF/HF: 20.3%; LF: 7.7%; HF: 28.7%; SD1: 32.7; SD2: 20.5; all p<0.05). Also, the cortical arousal was significantly higher before the OSCE than after it (2%; p<0.05). However, the subjective stress perception was significantly greater after the OSCE (20%; p<0.05). And the expected academic achievement was also lower after the OSCE (7.3±1.0 vs 7.0±1.0 over 10, respectively; p<0.05), and both higher than the actual academic achievement (6.2±0.9 over 10). Conclusion Therefore, OSCE methodology triggered and anticipatory anxiety response while their competency’s perception is not affected before the examination, and it decreased autonomic stress and cortical arousal responses in ESS students. However, the subjective distress perception increased, and the expected academic achievement decreased after the OSCE.