Managing anxiety and uncertainty: applying anxiety/uncertainty management theory to university health professionals and students’ communication

Background Previous research indicates that health centers on college and university campuses provide quality primary healthcare services to students; however, students are under-utilizing these campus health facilities due partly to their uncertainty about health services provided at these centers. While studies have examined students’ uncertainty about university health services and their health providers, little is known about strategies students use to manage their uncertainty when communicating with university health professionals. Responding to the call that more health communication scholarship should be theory-driven (Babrow and Mattson, 2011 Babrow AS, Mattson M. Building health communication theories in the 21st century. In: TL Thompson, R Parrot, JF Nussbaum, editors. The routledge handbook of health communication. New York, NY: Routledge; 2011. p. 18–35. Google Scholar), this study utilized anxiety/uncertainty management (AUM) theory to explore how college students managed their anxiety and uncertainty about their health problems when communicating with university health professionals at a university health center.Method 184 participants completed an online open-ended questionnaire. A thematic constant comparative method was used to analyze the data.Results The study found that students reported using trust, relaxation, and information seeking/giving as strategies to manage their anxiety and uncertainty.Conclusions The study concludes that basic systematic desensitization techniques (e.g. taking a deep breath, listening to music) and cognitive restructuring techniques (e.g. staying positive, focusing the mind on things one enjoys) could help students to manage their physical and psychological symptoms of anxiety when communicating with university health professionals. Also, assuring students of confidentiality could help them to reduce their uncertainty about disclosing personal and sensitive information to university health professionals during their interactions.