A student says, "Before taking a test, I feel a heightened sense of awareness and restlessness." The nursing intervention most suitable for assisting the student is to:

A) explain that the symptoms are the result of mild anxiety, and discuss the helpful aspects.
B) advise the student to discuss this experience with a health care provider.
C) encourage the student to begin antioxidant vitamin supplements.
D) listen without comment.

Teaching about the symptoms of anxiety, their relation to precipitating stressors, and, in this case, the positive effects of anxiety serves to reassure the patient. Advising the patient to discuss the experience with a health care provider implies that the patient has a serious problem. Listening without comment will do no harm but deprives the patient of health teaching. Antioxidant vitamin supplements are not useful in this scenario.