@Article{ijmhp.2026.083448,
AUTHOR = {Shota Suzumura, Hiroaki Sakurai, Soichiro Koyama, Kazuya Takeda, Kenta Fujimura, Takuma Ii, Chikusa Muraoka, Tomomi Nakajima, Akiko Maeda, Shohei Mori, Yoshikiyo Kanada, Shigeo Tanabe},
TITLE = {State Anxiety and Self-Efficacy across Educational Stages, Including Clinical Practicum, in Japanese Rehabilitation Students: A 3-Year Longitudinal Study},
JOURNAL = {International Journal of Mental Health Promotion},
VOLUME = {},
YEAR = {},
NUMBER = {},
PAGES = {{pages}},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/IJMHP/online/detail/28096},
ISSN = {2049-8543},
ABSTRACT = {<b>Background:</b> Physical and occupational therapy students face academic and clinical stressors, but longitudinal changes in anxiety and its association with self-efficacy remain unclear. This study examined state anxiety across curriculum-based educational stages, including clinical practicum, and its association with self-efficacy in a Japanese cohort. Methods: This 3-year longitudinal observational study included 144 physical and occupational therapy students at one Japanese university. State anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory–Form JYZ) and General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) were assessed at six curriculum-aligned time points. A linear mixed-effects model included Time, gender, within-person GSES deviation, between-person mean GSES, and their interactions with Time as fixed effects and participant ID as a random intercept. <b>Results:</b> Mean state anxiety ranged from 37.5 to 42.8, highest during clinical practicum and lowest after first clinical contact. Time was significantly associated with anxiety (F(5, 206.02) = 5.79, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001; partial η<sup>2</sup> = 0.123), and anxiety was lower at first clinical contact than at early enrolment (B = −4.24, 95% CI: −6.30 to −2.19; <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001). Time × within-person GSES (F(5, 260.06) = 3.81, <i>p</i> = 0.002) and Time × between-person mean GSES interactions (F(5, 186.27) = 42.79, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001) were significant. At early enrolment, higher between-person mean GSES was associated with lower anxiety, whereas within-person GSES deviation was not. During clinical practicum, both within-person and between-person GSES associations were positive; after practicum, the positive association remained only between persons. <b>Conclusions:</b> State anxiety and its associations with self-efficacy varied across curriculum-based stages. Curriculum-aligned monitoring and stage-specific support may be particularly relevant around clinical practicum.},
DOI = {10.32604/ijmhp.2026.083448}
}