Nurses' comprehension and recall process of a patient's message with double-bind information

We examined nurses' comprehension and recall process of patients' passage w ith double-bind information. We focused on two modes of communication, tone of voice and content of speech. The experiment followed a 2 x 2 x 2 design with respect to listeners (nurse vs student), tone of voice (positive vs n egative), and verbal content (positive vs negative). Subjects were 79 nurse s who worked at the university hospital and 99 students who were studying a t the Faculty of Nursing. Nurses and students were randomly divided into fo ur subgroups; each was presented one of four professionally tape-recorded s cripts representing one possible combination of tone of voice and verbal co ntent on the part of a fictitious patient. Listeners then rated the passage s on scales and were asked to recall the passages in detail. Listeners reca lled and understood passages better when the modes of communication did not conflict. Accuracy in recall reflected comprehension of passages rather th an the listener's feelings about the "patient," especially in double-bind s ituations. Listeners tended to judge the speaker's feelings by tone of voic e rather than verbal content.