Incorporating the “moving westward” spirit into higher education practical teaching to mitigate student anxiety: an exploratory study

Abstract

Background

Modern college students are faced with multiple pressures, leading to an increasing incidence of anxiety incidence rate. Traditional teaching models may not achieve ideal results in response to the special needs of such students. The spirit of moving westward, as a valuable experience in the history of New China, represents the spiritual core of overcoming difficulties and striving hard. The study will explore how to combine the “spirit of westward migration” with practical teaching to cultivate students’ psychological resilience and promote their healthy growth.

Subjects and Methods

The study focused on 90 students with anxiety disorder and randomly divided them into an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group students adopted the “spirit of moving westward” to integrate into the practical teaching of university education courses, while the control group students adopted traditional teaching methods. The study used the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA) to evaluate the intervention of anxiety disorders in students.

Results

Before the experiment, there was no significant difference in anxiety scores between the two groups of students (P>0.05); After the experiment, the anxiety symptoms of the experimental group students were significantly improved and significantly lower than those of the control group students (P<0.05).

Conclusions

The integration of the “spirit of westward migration” into practical teaching of higher education courses can alleviate students’ anxiety symptoms and have a positive effect on their learning and physical and mental health.

Acknowledgement

The Ministry of Education’s 2021 Special Project for Teachers of Ideological and Political Theory Courses in Colleges and Universities - Teaching Research Project (No. 21JDSZK070).