Comparing Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Cognitive Therapy (CT) for Test Anxiety

Anxiety Clinical Trial

Official title:

Comparing Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Strategies to Cognitive Therapy Strategies in Reduction of Test Anxiety

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00850226
• Other study ID #: 17111
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: February 23, 2009
• Last updated: May 28, 2010
• Start date: February 2009
• Est. completion date: February 2010

Study information

• Verified date: May 2010
• Source: Drexel University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: United States: Institutional Review Board
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study proposes to compare the effectiveness of an acceptance-based intervention and a cognitive control-based intervention for coping with test anxiety in nursing students during the HESI (Health Education Systems, Inc.) examination.

Subjects will be randomized to receive either the CT or the ACT condition. In both conditions, subjects will receive an education on test anxiety to inform them about what test anxiety is and why it occurs. Then, the different conditions will receive the respective treatment of either CT or ACT. The study is considered minimum risk because the nursing students will only be exposed to an amount of anxiety that is typical of their testing experience. Both conditions will meet three times, with each session lasting approximately one and a half hours. The purpose of the treatment is to provide subjects with tools to help them cope with their test anxiety.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 50
• Est. completion date: February 2010
• Est. primary completion date: February 2010
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 18 Years to 65 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Nursing student subjects may only participate if they are currently enrolled as an undergraduate student at Drexel University.

• They must be nursing majors enrolled in Nursing 492 and intending to take the cumulative HESI examination.

• Psychology students must be enrolled in the courses where recruitment will occur.

• Pre-professional students must be currently enrolled at Drexel University, and planning to take a Standardized test within 6 months.

• All subjects must be at least 18 years of age or older.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Persons may not participate if they are unable to see/read words off of a computer screen.

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Single Blind (Subject), Primary Purpose: Treatment

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Anxiety
• Anxiety Disorders

Intervention

Behavioral:
• CT
Cognitive Therapy Intervention: Subjects receiving the CT strategies will be taught to restructure their negative thoughts to make them more positive, based on the concept that thoughts are linked to their problems with test anxiety because beliefs can cause strong powerful emotions and behaviors. Subjects will be taught not to blame their environments for emotional and behavioral responses, and they will be shown how to change their beliefs in order to affect their emotions and their behaviors.
• ACT
Acceptance-and-Commitment Therapy Intervention: Subjects receiving the ACT strategies will be taught to defuse from their anxiety (or recognize that their thoughts are just thoughts). They will be taught to accept their anxiety and to learn to live with anxiety. Subjects will be told that while they cannot control the occurrence of their thoughts, they can control whether or not they choose to view them as separate from the self versus part of the self.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Drexel University	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Drexel University

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	grades on final exams		2-3 months	No