Academic Anxiety as a Social Problem: A Mindfulness Perspective

Abstract

Background: Academic anxiety is affecting many students of all ages and school levels, which represents a social problem that requires attention. Numerous are the factors that promote high levels of anxiety among them: competitiveness among university students, pressure before evaluations. Strategies and methodologies are required to calm the mind, such as Mindfulness.  Practice based on mindfulness and living here and now, appears as a methodology for managing emotions, especially anxiety, providing numerous benefits in learning. Objective: To generate a theoretical approach from the humanistic vision for the management of anxiety in academic evaluations through Mindfulness of Biochemistry students of the Bioanalysis program of the Bolivar Nucleus of the Universidad de Oriente. Methods: The research was carried out with Biochemistry students in the Bioanalysis degree program, period I - 2025, taught at the Universidad de Oriente, Núcleo Bolívar. The research was carried out in two phases: the first phase established the students who suffer from anxiety, for which the Beck Anxiety Inventory was applied. The second phase consisted in the implementation of Mindfulness and after the training was completed, a questionnaire with open-ended questions was applied.  Results: it was found that out of 15 students to whom the test was applied, 5 (33.33%) had moderate levels and 10 (66.67%) corresponded to a severe level of anxiety, with a predominance of the female sex. It was also demonstrated that midterm, final and remediation exams have an impact on academic anxiety. Conclusions: There is a high rate of anxiety in university students caused by multiple factors that need to be investigated in depth. With the design of Mindfulness training, students can reduce anxiety and learn to better manage their emotions.