The effect of brief functional relaxation on college students' needle anxiety during injected vaccinations.

Objective: This study examined the effect of brief functional relaxation (FR) training on needle anxiety (NA) during vaccinations.

Participants: From October 2010 through May 2012, 48 undergraduates were recruited through the psychology research participant pool.

Methods: Students (N = 48) were randomly assigned to a 15-minute brief FR session delivered via MP3 player or a standard care condition (15 minutes of sitting quietly) prior to receiving injections at the immunization clinic. Measures were completed before (T1) and after (T2) the assigned condition, assessing expected NA, state anxiety, blood pressure, and heart rate; and after the injection (T3), self-reported NA during the injection.

Results: Unexpectedly, the groups did not differ at T2. However, during the injection, brief FR participants indicated lower self-reported NA (T3) than standard care.

Conclusions: Brief FR is a simple, inexpensive technique that may reduce NA in college health settings and help decrease delays in treatment seeking.