Rational Emotive Education and Relaxation Training in Large Group Treatment of Test Anxiety

Abstract

Underachieving college students often report discomfort during examinations. The object of the study was to provide treatment to students enrolled in a course designed to improve study skills and habits. Since students are often unwilling to undergo comprel~ensive treatment, a short-term presentation in a classroom was given to subjects randomly selected from three sections (N = 150) of a course on improving study. Two sections received rational emotive education (n = 42) or relaxation training (n = 45). while the third section served as controls (n = 36). Each group was administered the Alexander-Husak Anxiety Differential (1) as pre- and post-treatment measures. The Anxiety Differential has a tesr-reresr reliability of .88 (2) and differentiates significantly between anxious and control groups (4). Low scores indicate greater anxiety about examinations. Each of the groups received 3 1-hr. treatments. The rational emotive treatment involved an introduction to the A (activating event), B (beliefs), and C (consequences) paradigm of rational emotive therapy (3). Subjects were then taught to use the model in identifying and replacing beliefs that lead to test anxiety: Irrational beliefs which typically cause text anxiety include: fear of failure, self-downing, perfectionism, need for approval, blocking and low frustration tolerance, and anxiety about test anxiery (5). Techniques such as disputation, thought stopping, and rational emotive imagery were demonscrated and practiced. The relaxation training began with an introduction to the behavioral view of test anxiety, deep muscle relaxation, and systematic desensitization via imagery of stressful situations. Since intact groups were used, the pretest score on the Anxiety Differential served as the covariate. The pre- and adjusted post-test means and standard deviations were M = 87.45 (SD = 6.60) and 88.621(SD = 6.31) for the rational emotive education, M = 89.62 (SD = 7.74), 87.96 (SD = 7.08) for relaxation training, and 87.31 (SD = 7.08), 85.99 (SD = 6.31) for controls. The analysis of covariance indicated differences (F2.19 = 2.83, p < '06). Post hoc comparisons supported differences between the means for rational emotive education and controls (p < .06). When treatment of test anxiety is short term or held in large groups a rational emotive approach may be more useful than relaxation training. Effects of length of treatment and size of group need to be