Comparing Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Cognitive Therapy (CT) for Test Anxiety - Full Text View

Sponsor:	Drexel University
Information provided by:	Drexel University
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT00850226

Purpose

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.

Condition	Intervention
Anxiety	Behavioral: CT Behavioral: ACT

Study Type:	Interventional
Study Design:	Allocation: Randomized Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment Masking: Single Blind (Subject) Primary Purpose: Treatment
Official Title:	Comparing Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Strategies to Cognitive Therapy Strategies in Reduction of Test Anxiety

Resource links provided by NLM:

MedlinePlus related topics: Anxiety

U.S. FDA Resources

Further study details as provided by Drexel University:

Primary Outcome Measures:

grades on final exams [ Time Frame: 2-3 months ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

Estimated Enrollment:	50
Study Start Date:	February 2009
Study Completion Date:	February 2010
Primary Completion Date:	February 2010 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)

Arms	Assigned Interventions
Experimental: 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.	Behavioral: 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.
Experimental: 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.	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.

Arms

Assigned Interventions

Experimental: 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.

Behavioral: 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.

Experimental: 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.

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.

Eligibility

Ages Eligible for Study:	18 Years to 65 Years
Genders Eligible for Study:	Both
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:	Yes

Criteria

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.

Contacts and Locations

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00850226

Locations

United States, Pennsylvania
Drexel University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104

Sponsors and Collaborators

Drexel University

More Information

No publications provided

Responsible Party:	Evan Forman, Ph.D., Drexel University
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT00850226 History of Changes
Other Study ID Numbers:	17111
Study First Received:	February 23, 2009
Last Updated:	May 28, 2010
Health Authority:	United States: Institutional Review Board

Keywords provided by Drexel University:

test anxiety

Additional relevant MeSH terms:

Anxiety Disorders
Mental Disorders

ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on February 09, 2012