The effect of a relationship-building activity on nursing student anxiety in the clinical setting

A pre-test post-test group design was used to determine whether student nurses who received a relationship-building intervention would rate their relationship with the instructor higher than those who received a placebo/ whether student nurses who received the intervention would have less state anxiety than those who received a placebo/ and whether there was a relationship between ratings of state anxiety and student-instructor relationships. The intervention was designed to occur over a three-day period. Data were collected from a homogenous sample of 30 control nursing students and 31 experimental nursing students. Effectiveness of the intervention was determined by measuring student anxiety levels using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger/ Gorsuch/ & Lushene/ 1970) and by measuring the student-instructor relationship using the Relationship Questionnaire (adapted from Truax & Carkhuff/ 1967). Additional data were collected from a Stressful Event Questionnaire/ a demographic data form/ and a debriefing session with participating instructors. Analysis of data indicated a treatment main effect was statistically significant. Members of the experimental group rated the perceived relationship with the instructor higher than members of the control group. There was no significant difference between groups in their ratings of anxiety. There was a trend/ however/ for those in the experimental group to have lower state anxiety than those in the control group. Correlations between the student-instructor relationship scores and the anxiety scores were low but were in the anticipated negative direction.Applied Science, Faculty ofNursing, School ofGraduat