High maths-anxiety in student nurses Identifying maths-anxiety and tackling the causes.

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High maths-anxiety in student nurses Identifying
maths-anxiety and tackling the causes.

• Heather Bull
• Lecturer (Biology and Maths)
• School of Nursing
• University of Nottingham

E-mail contact heather.bull_at_nottingham.ac.uk
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Maths anxiety

• feelings of tension and anxiety that interfere
  with the manipulation of numbers and the solving
  of mathematical problems in a wide variety of
  ordinary life and academic situations.
• (Richardson and Suinn, 1972).

i.e. maths-anxiety as a cause of error despite
the level of maths ability.
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What happens in maths anxiety?- some
explanations in the literature

• Maths anxiety overloads the working memory with
  interfering thoughts which affect performance.
• This is especially apparent in sequential
  procedures such as carryover or counting-like
  operations. (Ashcraft, 2001)
• EEG investigations showed differences in the
• frontal area of the brain in response to carry
  operations
• parietal area during general calculation
  activity (Sheffield, D, 2006)

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What the literature says
Maths (test) anxiety
Maths self-efficacy
Alexander L, Martray C (1989) Ashcraft MH, Kirk
EP (2001) Hodge J.E. (2002)
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Maths Anxiety Rating Scales (MARS) developed for
research and therapy.

• 98-item. Richardson and Suinn (1972).
• adding two three-digit numbers while someone
  looks over your shoulder.
• an upcoming math test 1 hour before.
• 25-item Alexandra and Martray (1989)
• 9-item. Hopko et al (2003)
• Many more

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How does this transfer into everyday nursing?

• Diagnostic tool (2nd person)?
• However...key terms in nurse training / practice
  are
• reflective practice
• accountability
• professional responsibility
• SWOT analysis
• action plans
• awareness (self and professional)
• self-managed learning

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Maths anxiety evaluation in nursing - some
possibilities
How anxious do I feel about performing this
maths task?
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Would a single-item, reflective evaluation of
maths anxiety

• be a useful evaluation to increase awareness?
• show similar association patterns to MARS?
• glean information underlying maths anxiety?
• help focus remedial action?
• be worth including in diagnostic numeracy
  testing?
• have value in promoting safe practice ?

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A Preliminary Study

• Stage 1 (at 4 weeks).
• Questionnaire 1
• Anxiety
• Belief in maths skills
• Reliance on calculator
• Command of tables
• Level 2 maths (Y/N)
• Open comments
• Test 1. 20-item

• Stage 2 (at 10 weeks).
• Questionnaire 2
• Anxiety
• Belief in maths skills
• Test 1. 20-item

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Key questionnaire items

• Maths (test) anxiety rating (1-5)
• How anxious would you feel about needing to
  achieve 14/20 in a maths test today?
• Maths self-efficacy (belief in having maths
  skills) rating (1-5)
• How do you rate your basic maths skills?
• Embedded numeracy skills
• (a) Calculator-reliance rating (1-5)
• To what extent do you need a calculator to
  perform basic maths calculations correctly?
  
• (b) Command of multiplication tables (1-11)
• How many multiplication tables can you recall?
• Highest level of previous achievement in maths.
• Below level 2 - Level 2 and above

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Results Stage 1 (2-tailed, alpha .05 where
applicable)
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Results (2-tailed, alpha .05 where applicable)
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Results stage 1 (2-tailed, alpha .05 where
applicable)
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Results Stage 1 (2-tailed, alpha .05 where
applicable)
1. Frequency with and without a level 2 maths
qualification ()
Without level 2 1
With level 2 2
2. Mann-Whitney (Below L2 maths vs L2 and
above)
(p) Anxiety (gt.05) Self-efficacy
(lt.05) Test score (gt.05) Calculator Rel
(gt.05) Tables Comm (gt.05)
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Results Stage 1 and 2 (2-tailed, alpha .05
where applicable)
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Building-up a picture.
Calculator-reliance
Tables command
Maths (test) anxiety
Test performance
Previous achievement
Maths self-efficacy
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Open comments from stage 1
After test 1 I feel very, very, very deflated
and extremely disappointed. I felt fine before
I started, now I feel pretty poor about
myself. Reasons for declining test 1 Just
cant bare the thought of the pressure. I feel
sick and trembly. Facing my worst fear which
most of the time I try to avoid. I feel I cant
put my self through it. Please help!
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Frequencies of anxiety rating for nursing
students achieving high (gt70) intermediate
(40-69) and low (lt40) scores in test 2.
Possible scenario Able to over-ride anxiety
(totally or partially)? Able to over-ride some
anxiety? Anxiety interfering with cognition?
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Summary of results

• Students with high maths (test) anxiety and/or
  low maths self-efficacy tended to have
• Higher reliance on a calculator for basic maths
• Poorer command of multiplication tables
• Lower test score
• Students with low maths self-efficacy also tended
  to have
• Lower previous achievement in maths
• So, what were they really saying when they said
• Im really worried about the maths or
• Im useless at maths!
• A period of focused study tended to
• Decrease student anxiety
• Increase student test scores
• Not affect self-efficacy

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A one-item reflective evaluation of maths (test)
anxiety

• gave a useful evaluation of anxiety to increase
  (self) awareness.
• showed similar association patterns to MARS
• gleaned information associated with maths anxiety
• helped focus remedial action
• Unanswered questions
• Value of including it in diagnostic numeracy
  testing?
• Value for promoting safe practice ?
• Value for promoting awareness as a first stage in
  overcoming maths-related anxiety.

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References

• Alexander L, Martray C (1989). The development of
  an abbreviated version of the mathematics anxiety
  rating scale. Measurement and evaluation in
  counselling and development. 22143-150.
• Ashcraft MH and Kirk EP (2001). The
  relationships among working memory, maths
  anxiety, and performance. Journal of
  experimental psychology general.
  130(2)224-237.
• Hodge JE. (2002). The effect of math anxiety,
  math self-efficacy and computer-assisted
  instruction on the ability of undergraduate
  nursing students to calculate drug dosages.
  Dissertation Doctor of Education, West Virginia
  University.
• Hopko DR, Mahadevan R, Bare RL, Hunt MK. (2003).
  The abbreviated maths anxiety scale (AMAS)
  Construction, validity and reliability.
  Assessment. 10(2)178-182.
• Richardshon FC and Suinn RM (1972). The
  mathematics anxiety rating scale psychometric
  data. Journal of Counselling Psychology.
  19(6)551-554.
• Sheffield D. (2006). Presented at Supporting
  maths difficulties in health sciences and
  practice How does anxiety influence maths
  performance and what can we do about it? ,
  HEA/University of Nottingham Joint workshop.
  June.