Methods of presentation of the sessions

The researcher was introduced to the participants as an educational psychologist carrying out a study to explore strategies for the self-management of examination anxiety with the help of pupils and teachers of the school.

The participating forms were told that the reason for their selection was the interest of their teachers and not the fact that they had been perceived as particularly anxious or in particular need of help.

Since the groups were considerably larger then for the pilot study (25 plus pupils rather than 8), methods of presentation were differentiated and materials developed to include more written presentation such as worksheets and hand­ outs. It was the role of the educational psychologist to start the session off with a short input. The teachers participated in the discussions which had to be organised differently because of group size and because of the short attention span of some of the pupils with special educational needs. The class was broken down into smaller groups. It was also the teachers' role to keep discipline, if needed. Most of the time the pupils were engaged and well behaved. The participants were given worksheets and homework to do. (Examples are included in the Appendix).

Some of the work materials were adapted from existing packages and books, some were newly developed. An acknowledgement of the source is listed with the materials, where appropriate.

Ways of presenting information and organising activities was by quiz, role play, blackboard, worksheets and pictures.

The researcher and the volunteer teachers jointly delivered a total of 15 experimental sessions (five forty-five minute sessions per Form) in various locations of the school. The sessions were delivered in the slots time-tabled for a PSHE block running from February to March 2001. The sessions were held in

the drama room or the gym. The sessions were run as fifth module of the PSHE curriculum with the title ‘Stressbusters - self-management of examination anxiety'. The other modules covered in the PSHE lessons were: careers, drugs, IT and RE. At the completion of the five sessions the participants were presented with a Certificate for their Record of Achievement. As for the pilot study, the sessions were scripted in order to allow transparency, replicability and uniformity of delivery between the participating teachers. Homework was again given between the sessions.

3.4 Programme for the sessions

The school had called the pilot project ‘Stressbusters’. This name was retained for the main study.

Overall objectives of the experimental sessions

To raise participants’ awareness of the positive and energising aspects of anxiety:

To equip the participants with a variety of strategies to manage their feelings, including problematic examination anxiety, better;

To share experiences in a group situation;

To share the successful strategies with the whole school;

Outcomes

To be able to harness the positive and energising aspects of anxiety in a variety of challenging situations, in particular in an examination situation;

To learn new skills and ways of self-managing stress, in particular problematic anxiety;

The three experimental groups received an introductory session delivered jointly by the experimenter and a teacher.

The introductory and assessment session covered the following topics:

Introductory overview

The objectives of the introduction session were the same for the three experimental groups.

Objectives

To set the scene and to develop trust and a setting where the participants feel safe;

To establish ground rules;

To set short and long term goals (how to realise a dream); To have fun.

Please see Appendix 7 for examples of scripts and handouts for all the sessions (all three experimental groups).

Programme of the individual groups Experimental group 2 - relaxation only Objectives

To learn a variety of relaxation techniques to deal with anxiety in a positive way; To learn to become aware of body and breathing;

To learn to recognise tension and to be able to relax in as many situations as possible.

Programme overview

The activities in the main study were similar to the activities of the pilot study. These activities had been refined and developed further.

Experimental group 4 - cognitive behavioural approaches Objectives

To learn about cognitive behavioural strategies;

To understand how the mind can influence moods and the stress a person feels;

To learn to recognise faulty, unhelpful, negative thoughts and to find evidence for more balanced, useful and positive thoughts.

CBT group - Programme overview

Session 1 - introduction and assessment, as for the other 2 experimental groups

Session 2 - ground rules reminder, recap introduction session Input (physiology of stress and anxiety)

What is CBT? (script)

Positive self-talk - self is best resource, (handout).

Activities: thought record - faulty thoughts Homework sheet: complete thought record

Session 3 - Consolidation of things learned in previous sessions. How did they get on with thought record?

Relationships and support from others. Activities: Role play, scenarios, connected to self-esteem and confidence.

Session 4 - Further consolidation of learning about CBT strategies, recap. Look after yourself and other people. How to be assertive.

Relationships and friendships. Share concerns. Goal setting. Taking control of learning and performance.

Session 5 - To recap things learned in the first four sessions - how to apply them to managing exams and challenges. Overview.

Experimental group 1 - mixed group Objectives

To master a variety of ways of dealing with anxiety in a positive way. These strategies were a mixture between physical relaxation techniques and cognitive behavioural approaches.

To acquire a variety of ‘tools of the mind’ to control and prevent anxiety according to the situation (crisis or prevention).

Programme overview (mixed group)

The programme of the mixed group consisted of an introduction session as for the other two groups, two relaxation sessions and two sessions on cognitive behavioural strategies. Like the other groups this group was given homework. The activities of the relaxation sessions were extracts from the programme of the relaxation only group and activities for the CBT sessions were extracts from the CBT only group. The exposure length of the groups was the same.

The relaxation exercises selected were the same as for the relaxation group, but of less frequency. For the CBT input the activities contained less repetition and consolidation.

3.5 Measures

Pre and post measures were administered to the participants on a triangulation principle, covering cognitive (self-report), behavioural and performance aspects.

The measuring instruments were the same as for the pilot study with some minor changes. These changes took into account the feedback from the pilot study.

3.5.1 Quantitative evaluation - multi-method assessment

Pre-test measures were administered as base-line in February 2001 and at the end of main phase in April 2001.