Test anxiety and metacognitive skillfulness: Availability versus production deficiencies

Abstract

This paper focuses on the role of metacognition in test anxiety. In two experiments, the metacognitive skillfulness of high vs. low test-anxious secondary school students was contrasted. Low test-anxious subjects exhibited a superior metacognitive skillfulness during math performance relative to high test-anxious subjects. Furthermore, differences in metacognitive skillfulness were performance related. In order to unravel causality in the relation between metacognition and test anxiety, two types of test-anxious students may be distinguished analogous to Naveh-Benjamin (1991). Type-1 students would lack metacognitive skills (availability deficiency), through which they experience failure and develop test anxiety. Type-2 students would experience task irrelevant thoughts, which causes cognitive interference with available metacognitive skills (production deficiency). Results of Study 1 reveal that metacognitive cueing may represent an adequate method for the identification of both types. Due to time-constraints, metacognitive cueing in Study 2 failed to do so.     

The recovery approach to the care of mentally disordered patients. Does it predict treatment engagement and positive social behaviour beyond quality of life?

The main aim of this study was to investigate whether the ‘recovery approach’ to the care of mentally disordered patients is associated with treatment motivation/engagement and positive social interactions on the ward beyond that of perceived quality of life. The participants were 75 service users in a medium secure unit in south-east England, who completed the Recovery Journey Questionnaire (RJQ), The Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life (MANSA), The Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), and the Patient Motivation and Perception Questionnaires (PMI and PPQ). The patients’ primary nurse independently completed the Disruptive Behaviour and Social Problem Scale (DBSP) for 33 service users. Multiple regressions showed that after controlling for age, ethnicity and diagnosis (severe mental illness vs personality disorder), the RJQ contributed to the variance in treatment motivation, treatment engagement, and positive social interactions on the ward above quality of life with medium to large effect sizes. The strongest effect size was with regard to treatment engagement where the amount of variance explained increased from 22% to 51% after the RJQ was entered into the regression. The results indicate that the recovery approach explains treatment motivation/engagement and positive social interactions above and beyond quality of life.