Informatics Publishing Limited

L. Manoj Kumar ¹, S. B. Eugin ²

Affiliations
1 Psychiatric Nursing Department, Sree Gokulam Nursing College, Trivandrum, IN
2 Mental Health (Psychiatric) Nursing, Saraswathy College of Nursing, Trivandrum, IN

Abstract

Background: Anxiety and fear trigger an activation of the autonomic nervous system giving rise to several physiological symptoms such as palpitations, sweating, trembling and/or shaking. Anxiety is a natural reaction to stress that helps a person to overcome a problematic situation, but when anxiety exceeds the normal limits, it is considered as a disorder. About 30% of student nurses suffer from anxiety especially in specific situations including: test, examination and presentations. The unfavorable effects of anxiety experienced by nursing students will lead to the development of low self-esteem over a period of time which adversely affects their academic performance. One of these anxiety disorders is social anxiety disorder or Social Phobia. Social anxiety disorder is the most frequently diagnosed anxiety disorder and it is the third most commonly diagnosed psychological disorder. Objectives: To assess the level of social phobia; to assess the effect of brief cognitive behavior therapy (BCBT) on level social phobia and to find the association between level of social phobia and selected demographic variables. Methods: The study design was pre-experimental study with one group pre-test post-test design. Study was conducted at two nursing colleges and 30 nursing students were selected purposively after screening with mini social phobia inventory (mini-SPIN). A socio-demographic profile to gather sample characteristics and a structured social phobia scale to assess the level of social phobia was used as tools to collect data. After pretest a structured interventional package which consisted of six sessions of BCBT, which included self- introduction, assessment of feared situations, psycho-education, progressive muscle relaxation technique, graded exposure to fearful situations through role-plays, class presentations and interaction sessions of one hour each. Six sessions of BCBT with three days gap between each session was implemented. The effect of therapy was assessed by using the same social phobia scale after five days. Results: A statistically significant reduction in the level of social phobia was found after the BCBT (t=12.98, p < 0.001). A statistically significant association was observed between the level of social phobia and age and gender of nursing students. Conclusion: Brief cognitive behavior therapy was found effective in reducing level of social phobia among nursing students. Present study reveals the implications and importance of brief cognitive behavior therapy in reducing social phobia, and it is a short duration therapy comparing to the traditional cognitive behavior therapy protocols.

Keywords

Social Phobia, Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Nursing Students.

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L. Manoj Kumar ¹, S. B. Eugin ²

Affiliations
1 Psychiatric Nursing Department, Sree Gokulam Nursing College, Trivandrum - 695607, Kerala, IN
2 Saraswathy College of Nursing, Trivandrum, IN

Abstract

ECT has been a treatment consideration for mental illness since decades. The provision of electric shock to human body seems to create significant misconceptions and stigma as well, which is evident in literature search. A cross sectional survey was conducted in the premises of a tertiary mental hospital among care givers of mentally ill clients; to assess the knowledge regarding electro convulsive therapy (ECT), attitude towards ECT and association of knowledge and attitude with selected socio demographic variables. Sample consisted of 120 care givers of mentally ill client's recruited using purposive sampling technique. An ethical clearance has been obtained from the Institutional Ethical committee; a formal informed consent was also obtained from the subjects after ensuring the confidentiality of the data collected. Three tools were used to collect data; a socio demographic proforma to obtain basic details of the subjects, a standardized tool with twenty items to assess the knowledge regarding Electroconvulsive therapy, a semi structured 4 point likert scale with eight statements prepared by the investigator to assess the attitude of subjects towards usage of Electro convulsive therapy. The data collection took nearly 45 days in the year 2014, subjects were given adequate time to complete the given tools. Data was entered into spread sheet and analysis was done using SPSS trial V.20.0. Results revealed that 55% subjects had average knowledge, 98 subjects had positive attitude towards ECT, there was significant association between education and level of knowledge (p=0.043) and attitude (p=0.0213) towards ECT. Hence the study finding shows the need for providing awareness regarding ECT.

Keywords

Knowledge, Attitude, Electro Convulsive Therapy, Care Givers, Mentally Ill.

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