The effects of a personal versus a factual approach videotape on the level of preoperative anxiety of same day surgery patients.

Abstract

The literature which evaluates the effects of different health education techniques demonstrates that approaches that are more personal and relevant to the learner are more effective than traditional didactic learning methods. In particular, such findings have been found with regard to decreasing anxiety levels of hospital patients. However, not many of these studies have used the medium of videotape, and studies evaluating the effects of this medium are rare. This study compared the effects of a personal approach video with a factual approach video on the level of preoperative anxiety of same day surgery patients. It was hypothesized that those patients who viewed the personal approach video would have lower levels of preoperative anxiety than those who viewed the factual approach video. Multiple regression and analysis of variance (ANOVA) techniques indicated that gender was the most significant predictor of preoperative anxiety in this study. Recommendations for future research are offered.