Research Purpose: 

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of a music therapy intervention on undergraduate nursing students’ level of state anxiety before a quiz in the junior-level Clinical Scholarship course.

Significance: 

State anxiety involves current feelings of unease, apprehension, and stress. Participants will be exposed to a potentially beneficial anxiety reduction technique that may be implemented in their personal and professional lives. This study aims to contribute to music therapy literature by evaluating the effects of an efficient 15-minute music listening experience for undergraduate nursing students to determine its effects on level of state anxiety.

Methodology: 

This pilot study involves a posttest only quasi-experimental design. Participants (n=57) include junior-level undergraduate nursing students at a small liberal arts college in the Midwest. 

Results: 

An independent sample t-test was conducted to compare the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) mean scores of participants of the experimental group to the control group. There was a statistically significant decrease in state anxiety from the experimental group (M = 67.97, SD = 7.326) compared to the control group (M = 55.82, SD = 8.828), t (57) = 5.66, p < .001 (two-tailed). The mean decrease in scores was 12.144 with a 95% confidence interval from 16.444 to 7.844. The eta squared statistic (0.36) indicated a very large effect size.

Recommendations: 

This study suggests that a 15-minute classical music intervention in undergraduate junior nursing students may decrease state anxiety.  Additional research is needed to better understand the effects of music listening on academic performance.