The Effects of Listening to Music on the Anxiety of Nursing Students

The purpose of this project is to examine the effects of listening to music on the anxiety of nursing students with the goal of lowering levels of anxiety. Anxiety is how the body is able to respond to stress. Many people experience anxiety on a daily basis. A mild level of anxiety before an exam or a job interview may be unpleasant but motivates the person to perform. When anxiety reaches higher levels, it may hinder academic performance and interrupt activities of daily living. Nursing students are not immune to anxiety. Once students are admitted to a nursing program, they begin classes with heavy course material, exams, preparation for clinical, and pressure to maintain grades at or above a certain grade to advance to the next level. In addition, the personal demands of nursing students such as family responsibilities, a job and/or sports increase anxiety. Approximately 43% of nursing students have some level of anxiety. There are many different nonpharmacological methods of lowering anxiety. The use of listening to music is one type of complementary and alternative therapy that has helped people with lowering their anxiety. This project surveyed student nurses at Rhode Island College about their symptoms of anxiety before and after listening to music in a quantitative fashion. The goal was to determine if listening to music lowers anxiety of undergraduate nursing students