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. 2022 Feb 9;19(4):1920.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19041920.

Evaluation of the Effect of a Live Interview in Journalism Students on Salivary Stress Biomarkers and Conventional Stress Scales

Delfina Roca  1 , Damián Escribano  2 , Lorena Franco-Martínez  2 , Maria D Contreras-Aguilar  2 , Luis J Bernal  2 , Jose J Ceron  2 , Pedro A Rojo-Villada  1 , Silvia Martínez-Subiela  2 , Asta Tvarijonaviciute  2
Affiliations

Evaluation of the Effect of a Live Interview in Journalism Students on Salivary Stress Biomarkers and Conventional Stress Scales

Delfina Roca et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

A career in journalism can be very stressful, as journalists frequently have to deal with uncontrolled situations such as conducting live interviews. Therefore, training is essential during their career, both for the development of communication skills and for the improvement of the real and effective capacity to perform the tasks of their professional activity. The aim of this study was to assess the levels of stress in students before and after a practical training in a professional television set using subjective (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Likert scale) and objective (salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase) methods. The results indicate that a live interview produces stress in the students as revealed by increased concentrations of cortisol and alpha amylase in saliva. Furthermore, students with lower initial concentrations of these biomarkers obtained better grades in evaluation, suggesting that greater control of anticipatory stress could be associated with a better activity performance.

Keywords: alpha amylase; cortisol; journalism; saliva; stress; trainings.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The flow chart of sample inclusion and exclusion.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Median and interquartile range data of student salivary alpha amylase (sAA), salivary cortisol, Likert scale, and STAI data of all students (n = 67) before (Pre) and after (Post) activity consisting in the live recording of an interview on a television set.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Boxplots representing median, interquartile, and range data of salivary alpha amylase (sAA) and salivary cortisol before activity and the mark received for activity performance of students included in the study. Group 1 included students that showed a decrease in both sAA and cortisol after the activity (↓sAA & ↓cortisol); Group 2 included students that showed a decrease in sAA but an increase in cortisol (↓sAA & ↑cortisol); Group 3 included students that showed an increase in sAA and a decrease in cortisol concentrations (↑sAA & ↓cortisol), and Group 4 included students that showed an increase in concentration of both sAA and cortisol after the activity (↑sAA & ↑cortisol); * p < 0.05.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Boxplots representing median, interquartile, and range data of Likert (Likert_Pre) and STAI (STAI_Pre) data before activity; and the difference after-before of Likert (Likert_Pre-Post) and STAI (STAI_Pre-Post) data reported by students. Group 1 included students that showed a decrease in both sAA and cortisol after the activity (↓sAA & ↓cortisol); Group 2 included students that showed a decrease in sAA but an increase in cortisol (↓sAA & ↑cortisol); Group 3 included students that showed an increase in sAA and a decrease in cortisol concentrations (↑sAA & ↓cortisol), and Group 4 included students that showed an increase in concentration of both sAA and cortisol after the activity (↑sAA & ↑cortisol).
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