THE INFLUENCE OF AUDIOTAPES ON PATIENT PARTICIPATION IN THE CANCER CONSULTATION

This study examined the effect of providing patients with an audiotape of a previous consultation on their level of participation during a s ubsequent consultation. 117 newly referred medical oncology patients r andomised to receive a tape (n = 63) or not (n = 54) had two linked co nsultations which were both audiotaped. A content analysis revealed no significant differences between tape and control group in the mean nu mber of questions asked during the second consultation. However, signi ficantly more tape group patients (77%) asked for clarification of at least one piece of information compared to the control group (57%) (P = 0.04). A larger number of control group patients (61%) made at least one request for facts already provided in their first consultation co mpared to tape group patients (39%) (P = 0.05). Audiotapes appear to f acilitate patients' requests for the clarification of previously given information and permit the re-absorption of complex information given when patients may have been too distressed for it to be assimilated.