Bibliography: pages 169-183. / The present investigation was initiated with the aim of assessing the efficacy of multicomponent treatment programmes for test-anxiety in student nurses, in order to develop a programme that could be included in the nursing curricula. The subjects were 103 student nurses currently in their first year of the four-year Diploma in Nursing (General, Community and Psychiatry) and Midwifery at Carinus Nursing College CCNC). They had been randomly allocated to four classes at the College. The study compared high-test-anxious, low-test-anxious and mid-test-anxious subjects within these four groups, three of which received multicomponent treatment programmes, while the fourth was the control· group. Programmes comprised Systematic Desensitisation (SD), Progressive Muscle Relaxation Training and Guided Imagery (PMRT & Gl) and Study Skills Training (SST), each of which included a core component of cognitive restructuring. Treatment spanned six weeks. The following self-report questionnaires were used at pre- and post-intervention: The Anxiety Achievement Test <AATl, the Anticipated Anxiety Rating Scale (AARS) and the Subjective Units of Disturbance (SUD). Academic achievement was also measured at both pre- and post-intervention by means of examination scores. Differences between pre and post scores were analysed by means of One- and Two-Way Multivariate Analysis of Variance. The only group to differ significantly from the Control group at post-test was the SD group, showing reductions on the Debilitative scale of the AAT (p < 0.01), the SUD (p < 0.01) and the AARS (p < 0.05). However, this group expressed less satisfaction with the programme than the PMRT & GI group on the Treatment Evaluation Questionnaire. A subsidiary study compared the CNC student nurses (n = 103) with first-year paramedical students from the following disciplines: logopaedics (n = 12); physiotherapy (n = 24); occupational therapy (n = 18); BSc nursing (n = 12); radiography (n = 27), on the Profile of Mood States (POMS), Health Behaviour Assessment Scale (HBAS) and Matric scores. CNC nurses obtained significantly lower Matric scores than the other .students (p < 0.0001), and showed significant differences on other variables, indicating higher negative mood states and less healthy lifestyles. At one-year follow-up; 33 of the original 103 subjects had failed or resigned: sixteen of whom were high-test-anxious, nine low-test-anxious, eight mid-test-anxious. The drop-out rate was consistent across groups, i.e. treatment had had no long-term effect. Reasons for this are discussed, and the conclusion reached that high levels of test anxiety were realistically felt by student nurses with comparatively low Matric scores when faced with the demands of the four-~ear Diploma course. Such anxiety which at present tends to be dealt with by somewhat self-destructive behaviours could not be easily alleviated by short-term anxiety management programmes. Recommendations are made regarding possible alternative nurse training programmes. There would appear to be good reason to offer a programme with emphasis on clinical skills in addition to the heavily academic four-year Diploma course. A prophylactic stress management programme emphasising healthy lifestyles, and commencing at the start of training, was recommended.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Ph.D in Community Psychology at the University of Zululand, 2003. / The ministry is regarded by many as one of the most stressful vocations. Researchers highlight the need for clergy self care as a strategy in the management of stress and the prevention of burnout. This research study documents the design, implementation and evaluation of a clergy stress management programme as a health promotion intervention. A series of one day workshops was facilitated amongst forty five ministers from various denominations selected by their membership of the ministers fraternals in Stanger, Richards Bay, Tongaat and Secunda communities. The effectiveness of the clergy stress management programme was evaluated using a phenomenological approach. There was unanimous report of high satisfaction levels related to clergy experience of the workshops. The most common themes reported by participants were that the workshop provided them with an opportunity for personal empowerment in that it challenged some of their faulty thinking about ministry life and calling, encouraged personal insight for new behaviour, improved their knowledge of stress and gave them practical tools to manage personal stress. The stress management intervention was also described as an opportunity for renewal and restoration. This study confirms the need for holistic health promotion interventions amongst the clergy as an important group of helping professionals.

Many preschool children exhibit a number of problematic, acting-out behaviors. Parents of preschoolers exhibiting behavior problems often experience a great deal of stress associated with these problem behaviors. Consistently robust improvements have been found in the use of stress management for adult stress, pain, and medical wellbeing. Likewise, studies have shown parent training decreases the severity of child behavior problems. However, only a few studies have examined effects of parent training on both child behavior and parent stress. Some studies have found that parents who complete parent training also report lowered stress levels commensurate with improvement of child behavior. It is unclear, though, whether adding stress management would provide additional benefits to parents and their children. The purpose of this study was to look at effects of providing both parent training and stress management training to parents of preschoolers, and to look at the effects of providing treatment in a different order to two groups of parents. Parent volunteers completed seven weeks of parent training and four weeks of stress management training, with half of the parents receiving stress management first and half receiving parent training first. It was found that overall improvements in measures of parent stress and chi Id behavior were not significantly different between the two groups. Improvement in child behavior was attributed to parent training; improvement in parent stress was attributed to both parent training and stress management training, with larger improvements in parent-related stress generally attributed to stress management training and larger improvements in child-related stress attributed to parent training. However, child behavior temporarily worsened while parents received stress management training. Stress management did not enhance effects of parent training, but parents were better off on measures of stress and parenting efficacy after receiving both training components than they were after receiving only one treatment component. Parents felt more effective as parents after treatment and rated the overall treatment package highly; however, parents who received their prefened treatment first were slightly more satisfied than parents receiving prefened treatment second. Teachers reported general improvement in children whose parents received treatment and those whose parents did not receive treatment.

The purpose of this study was to conduct a literature review that examined parental coping mechanisms and stress relief techniques for parents of infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). A search was conducted using multiples databases using key terms such as stress AND coping, parent* OR caregiver, ped* OR child*, support* or aid, NICU OR neonatal intensive care unit, and nurs*. The results were limited to scholarly, peer reviewed journals in the English language. Exclusion criteria included not relating to parents or caregivers and mechanisms of coping with stress or if they pertain to palliative or end-of-life care. Each article meeting the inclusion criteria were critiqued and analyzed for information pertaining to the topic of this review. The thirteen articles yielded from the search revolved around the common themes of Visitation/Participation, Communication, and Comfort Measures. The literature revealed an overall positive association in reducing the amount of stress experienced when an intervention was provided. Implications for further research involve directly comparing the efficacy of interventions to determine which could be most useful in practice.

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Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 46-55).