An educational intervention for advance directives

In spite of the passage of the Patient Self-Determination Act in 1991, rese arch indicates that providing information alone has not brought about a sig nificant increase in the completion rates of advance directive (AD) documen ts. The purpose of this pilot study was to design, implement, and evaluate an interactive multimedia CD-ROM educational program on AD. Study subjects consisted of 31 volunteer elderly men and women in a senior citizens center . An interactive multimedia CD-ROM program was developed in phase I of the study. Subjects were administered on-line pretests and posttests. The effec tiveness of the CDROM intervention was measured by AD attitude and knowledg e changes. A program satisfaction scale was used, and an observer rated the subjects' use of the computer program. Subjects had a statistically signif icant change in posttest knowledge scores and a high degree of satisfaction and ease in using the computer program. The use of an interactive multimed ia CD-ROM program with a touch-sensitive monitor to operate a computer-base d AD program for senior citizens shows future promise. Copyright (C) 2000 b y W.B. Saunders Company.