Sources and Effects of Anxiety in Videotape Learning Experience

Abstract

The third year of the generic baccalaureate nursing program at the University of Alberta appears to be a very stressful year for the students. Pre-examination assessments, conducted in September 1980, indicated that many students experienced high levels of anxiety that were associated with writing examinations. Informal data collected from third year students in December 1980 and December 1981, on self reported anxiety levels, showed that these students also experienced high levels of anxiety during their clinical postings. Anxiety is equated in the literature with significant levels of stress (Lazarus, 1976). Lazarus identifies stress as an internal force which develops within an individual in response to demands which tax or exceed adjustive resources (1976, p.47). Stress is a subjective experience which may have positive or negative effects, and is particular to the specific situation and the individual's capacity to adapt. Although stress is at times essential for growth, it can also be "destructive of effective adjustment" (Lazarus, 1976, p.71). The main deterrents to adjustment, according to Lazarus, are the emotional overtones that characterize stressful situations. Anxiety is the most significant of the stress emotions. In extreme amounts it prevents the individual from coping with problems, prevents learning and emotional growth, and impairs a person's adjustive functioning.