MATCHING STRESS INOCULATION TREATMENT TO STUDENT NURSES' PRIMARY MODE OF ANXIETY EXPRESSION.
Contributors: University of Iowa.
Published: 1987
Number of pages: 184
Subjects: Psychology, Clinical.
Description: A large amount of research has been conducted regarding the effectiveness of stress inoculation treatment (SIT). The present study was intended to answer questions regarding the effectiveness of matching components of the skills acquisition phase of SIT to participants' primary mode of experiencing anxiety (cognitively versus somatically). It was hypothesized that participants who expressed anxiety cognitively would benefit more from the cognitive restructuring component of the skills acquisition phase, and participants who expressed their anxiety somatically would benefit more from the relaxation component of the skills acquisition phase.

Seventy-six nursing students were recruited to participate, and 64 took place in the study. The three selection criteria for the study were: (1) the participant was a first or second semester nursing student, (2) the participant reported experiencing stress regarding the nursing education experience, and (3) the participant scored at or above the 50 percentile on the college student norms for the State scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Lushene, 1970). The participants were divided by a median split on the Cognitive Somatic Anxiety Questionnaire (CSAQ; Schwartz, Davidson, & Goleman, 1978) into either a cognitive or a somatic anxiety expression group. Within these two groups, participants were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups: (1) complete SIT, (2) SIT with relaxation training in the skills acquisition phase, (3) SIT with cognitive restructuring in the skills acquisition phase, and (4) waiting-list control group. The outcome data were analyzed with two multivariate analyses of variance.

This study provided some evidence supporting the effectiveness of the matching hypothesis; in particular matching relaxation training with somatic anxiety expressors. Relaxation training was only superior on the nursing test outcome measure at the posttreatment time (but not follow-up). Cognitive anxiety expressors did not experience more benefit from the cognitive restructuring treatment component. Future research should be conducted to further delineate the benefit of relaxation training for somatic anxiety expressors.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-11, Section: B, page: 3413.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, 1987.

School code: 0096.