The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of lento music on examination anxiety among nursing students. A randomized crossover classroom-based trial was conducted. Thirty-eight students with a mean age of 19.4 years (SD = .54) were randomly assigned to either a music/silence or a silence/music group sequence. The students in the music group were given a 40-min group-based music intervention in a classroom, whereas the students in the silence group received the regular test without music. Using paired t-tests, there were no significant different in pretest scores for state anxiety, examination anxiety, finger temperature and pulse rate between the two conditions. Nonetheless, the findings indicated that music intervention did effectively decrease examination anxiety and state anxiety as well as reducing pulse rate and increasing higher finger temperature (p = 0.05 to 0.001). In addition, significant differences were detected between the pretest and posttest measures for silence (p = 0.001). The results suggest that lento music is effective at anxiety reduction. This study provides evidence for nursing faculty and clinical educators to foster nursing students' mastering over the anxiety of examination by using lento music.

Nurse Educ Today. 2008 Nov;28(8):909-16. Epub 2008 Jul 1. Lai HL, Chen PW, Chen CJ, Chang HK, Peng TC, Chang FM. Department of Nursing, Tzu Chi University, Taiwan, ROC. snowjade@mail.tcu.edu.tw

BACKGROUND: The neural mechanisms underlying the modulation of pain perception by hypnosis remain obscure. In this study, we used positron emission tomography in 11 healthy volunteers to identify the brain areas in which hypnosis modulates cerebral responses to a noxious stimulus. METHODS: The protocol used a factorial design with two factors: state (hypnotic state, resting state, mental imagery) and stimulation (warm non-noxious vs. hot noxious stimuli applied to right thenar eminence). Two cerebral blood flow scans were obtained with the 15O-water technique during each condition. After each scan, the subject was asked to rate pain sensation and unpleasantness. Statistical parametric mapping was used to determine the main effects of noxious stimulation and hypnotic state as well as state-by-stimulation interactions (i.e., brain areas that would be more or less activated in hypnosis than in control conditions, under noxious stimulation). RESULTS: Hypnosis decreased both pain sensation and the unpleasantness of noxious stimuli. Noxious stimulation caused an increase in regional cerebral blood flow in the thalamic nuclei and anterior cingulate and insular cortices. The hypnotic state induced a significant activation of a right-sided extrastriate area and the anterior cingulate cortex. The interaction analysis showed that the activity in the anterior (mid-)cingulate cortex was related to pain perception and unpleasantness differently in the hypnotic state than in control situations. CONCLUSIONS: Both intensity and unpleasantness of the noxious stimuli are reduced during the hypnotic state. In addition, hypnotic modulation of pain is mediated by the anterior cingulate cortex.

Anesthesiology. 2000 May;92(5):1257-67. Faymonville ME, Laureys S, Degueldre C, DelFiore G, Luxen A, Franck G, Lamy M, Maquet P. Departments of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine and Neurology, and the Cyclotron Research Centre, University Hospital of Liège, Liège, Belgium. anesrea@ulg.ac.be