THE EFFECTS OF A PERSONAL VERSUS A FACTUAL APPROACH VIDEOTAPE ON THE LEVEL OF PREOPERATIVE ANXIETY OF SAME-DAY SURGERY PATIENTS

The literature which evaluates the effects of different health educati on techniques demonstrates that approaches that are more personal and relevant to the learner are more effective than traditional didactic l earning methods. In particular, such findings have been found with reg ard to decreasing anxiety levels of hospital patients. However, not ma ny of these studies have used the medium of videotape, and studies eva luating the effects of this medium are rare. This study compared the e ffects of a personal approach video with a factual approach video on t he level of preoperative anxiety of same day surgery patients. It was hypothesized that those patients who viewed the personal approach vide o would have lower levels of preoperative anxiety than those who viewe d the factual approach video. Multiple regression and analysis of vari ance (ANOVA) techniques indicated that gender was the most significant predictor of preoperative anxiety in this study. Recommendations for future research are offered.