Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Capstone

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Committee Chair

Elizabeth Repede

Abstract

Stress and anxiety have been identified as significant issues experienced by student nurses during their education. In fact, some studies have suggested that the stress experienced by nursing students is greater than that experienced by medical students, other non-nursing healthcare students, degreed nurses, and the female population in general. A recently introduced energy type therapy, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), combines the tapping of meridian points with a focus on the feared object or negative emotion to provide desensitization to the fear. In addition, there is repetition of a statement of self-acceptance suggested to contribute to cognitive restructuring. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of EFT in decreasing anxiety and stress in a convenience sample of nursing students enrolled in an associate degree nursing program. Utilizing a one group pretest-posttest design, participants received group instruction in the technique and were encouraged to repeat it daily. Data collection instruments included a demographic questionnaire, pretest State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). STAI and PSS were re-administered at the second, third and the fourth week. A qualitative questionnaire was also administered at the end of the four weeks. Significant reductions in anxiety on both the STAI and PSS were achieved using EFT. Qualitative data suggested that nursing students experienced a decrease in feelings of stress and anxiety including a decrease in somatic symptoms.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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