THE EFFECTS OF STRESS INOCULATION FOR ANGER CONTROL AND RELAXATION TRAINING ON ANGER AND RELATED MEASURES WITH NURSES.
Contributors: Lehigh University.
Published: 1990
Number of pages: 254
Subjects: Psychology, Clinical.
Description: This study investigated the effects of stress inoculation for anger control and relaxation training on anger and related measures with general hospital nurses. Forty female nurses from a small community hospital in Northeastern Pennsylvania were randomly assigned, within the constraint of schedule, to three groups: Stress-Inoculation Training for Anger Control (SIT), Relaxation-Training Group (RTG), or a Delayed-Treatment Control group (DTG).

The SIT group was based on Novaco's (1983) adaptation of the stress inoculation model for use with anger problems. The RTG subjects were trained in relaxation methods using the Budzynski (1978) relaxation audiotape series and anger management based on the procedure developed by Suinn and Deffenbacher (1988). The SIT and RTG subjects met for eight one-hour weekly sessions. The DTG subjects met to complete the pretest and posttest measures.

Treatment effects were examined using pretest to posttest difference scores on selected scales from the following dependent measures: (1) Novaco Provocation Inventory, (2) State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory, (3) Maslach Burnout Inventory, and (4) Brief Symptom Inventory.

Analysis of treatment and leader effects (two-way ANOVAs) did not reveal any significant main effects for leader nor were there significant interactions.

Consequently, the data were collapsed into a one-way design for further analyses.

A one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to test for treatment differences, and the analysis did not reveal any significant differences among the three groups. Since most of the previous studies of anger management involved univariate analyses, one-way ANOVAs were conducted on the eight dependent variables, and no significant group differences were found.

The results of this study challenge the growing support for the two anger-management strategies that were compared. Specifically, these results raise questions about the value of these two interventions with practicing nurses and suggest the need for further investigation of anger regulation with this population.

Because previous research supported the anger interventions tested, alternative explanations for the results were discussed, including low pretest scores, subject attrition, and problems with anger measurement. Additionally, recommendations for future anger-management studies were presented.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-05, Section: B, page: 2640.

Thesis (PH.D.)--LEHIGH UNIVERSITY, 1990.

School code: 0105.