The Effectiveness of Intervention Based on Coping Strategies Model, Emotional Self-Regulation and Mindfulness on Music Performance Anxiety

Anxiety or inquietude, and or turmoil mean a widespread, unpleasant, and vague feeling of fear and concern with an unknown origin that includes uncertainty, helplessness, and physiological arousal. Performance anxiety is a group of disorders that affect individuals in a range of endeavors, from test-taking, mathematics performance, public speaking, and sport, to the performing arts of dance, acting, and music (1).Music performance anxiety (MPA) is a complex phenomenon caused by many factors, including genetics, environmental stimuli, and an individual's experience, emotions, cognitions, and behaviors. MPA manifests via three elements, independent of varying types: cognitions, autonomic arousal, and behaviors. While a certain degree of performance anxiety is facilitative and normal, it can sometimes become debilitating and even be taken as a mental disorder (2). defines MPA as the experience of marked and persistent anxious apprehension related to musical performance, which is manifested through combinations of affective, cognitive, somatic, and behavioral symptoms MPA is also known as stage fight, musician stress syndrome, and music syndrome. (3)Coping strategies are factors affecting MPA. Coping style means mastering, reducing, or enduring those harms that cause stress. Endler and Parker divide coping strategies into three categories: emotion-oriented, avoidance-oriented, and problem-oriented.Emotional self-regulation, the reappraisal of negative affections, and overexpression of emotions can be named as other factors seen in MPA, which are observed in individuals with negative feelings, thoughts, and emotional disturbances that cause negative social implications and negative inner reactions. Hence, MPA is considered as maladaptive behavior. The dual function of emotions refers to the emotional regulation process in which, individuals regulate and modify their emotions under different situations.Various factors determine the effect of a psychological intervention on a specific problem, so MPA is not an exception. Mindfulness of unintentional meditation occurs on the current events. Mindfulness can be defined as attention self-regulation ability and directing attention towards an experience. Accordingly, thoughtful attention regulation is a core component of mindfulness. Mindfulness is a kind of relaxation with attention control that affects sensory processes by influencing attention span, beliefs, expectations, mood, and emotional regulation.
Therefore, the extant study aimed to find whether the program extracted from the conceptual model (MPA self-regulation) of coping strategies, emotional self-regulation, and mindfulness can affect performance anxiety.

This was a quasi-experimental study. The statistical population comprised all musicians (N=30) living in Kermanshah County, Iran. The members of the statistical sample were selected using convenience sampling then were assigned to two experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. Voluntary participation, more than 2-year experience in musicianship, 15-55 age range, and at least one experience of playing music at the stage in front of people were taken as inclusion criteria. Exclusion criteria included more than two absenteeism sessions, an incomplete questionnaire in the first section of the study, and suffering from acute or chronic psychiatric diseases, such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, ADHD, suspicion, autism, and learning disorders, which caused performance loss and anxiety when they were playing music. The Kenny et al. Music Performance Anxiety Inventory (2004) was used to collect data. The training protocol was designed based on the model and performed in 12 sessions, including the effect of coping strategies, emotional self-regulation, and mindfulness on the MPA. Data analysis was done through univariate and multivariate ANCOVA.

There was a significant difference (P<0.01) between the two studied groups in terms of self-assessment (F(1,23)=13.64), negative affect, and situational symptoms (F(1,23)=4.82), and fear of negative evaluation (F(1,23)=5.81) at 0.001 level. Therefore, the training program of the model had a significant effect on MPA dimensions, e.g., self-assessment, negative affection and situational symptoms, and fear of negative evaluation, while this program had no significant impact (P≥0.01) on the uncontrollability (F(1,23)=3.71) and unpredictability (F(1,23)=1.83) dimensions of MPA at 0.001 level. Therefore, the training program of the model had no significant effect on MPA dimensions, including uncontrollability and unpredictability.The results indicated a significant difference between two experimental and control groups in terms of the effect of the training intervention extracted from the model on reduction of MPA, considering its dimensions (e.g., self-assessment, negative affection and situational symptoms, and fear of negative evaluation), while its effect on uncontrollability and unpredictability was not significant.

The extant study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of a protocol based on the coping strategies, emotional self-regulation, and mindfulness model on musicians' music performance anxiety. The obtained results indicated the effectiveness of the teaching protocol adopted from the cognitive self-regulation and coping strategies model with mediating role of mindfulness on MPA. This finding was consistent with the results of studies conducted by Worth-Grad(14), Hribar (15), Kazajowski, Grisley, and Alice (19), and Worth & Escher (13).The impact of the training program extracted from the model on the reduction of MPA dimensions indicated a significant difference between two studied experimental and control groups in terms of self-assessment, negative affection, situational symptoms, and fear of negative evaluation. Therefore, the training protocol of the model had a significant effect on MPA dimensions (e.g., self-assessment, negative affection, situational symptoms, and fear of negative evaluation). However, the training protocol of the model was not significant in terms of uncontrollability and unpredictability dimensions. Therefore, the training program of the model had no significant effect on the uncontrollability and unpredictability dimensions of MPA.It is recommended to apply the results of this study widely in educational packages for individuals who play music in music classes and academic music fields, particularly those who experience low music performance, perform slowly in music sessions, and suffer from learning disorders.The protocol of mindfulness, coping strategies, and emotion regulation can be attended by musicians to prevent and control performance anxiety. It also is suggested to prevent and control performance anxiety by employing psychologists who are aware of and interested in performance anxiety issues. Lack of follow-up among studied subjects was one of the constraints in this research, so consideration of follow-up courses within several months is recommended to assess intervention's effects.