title: The psychological effect of three different forms of patient information.
abstract: The psychological effects of different forms of preanesthetic information have been measured in four groups of patients (total N = 207) with the same questionnaires and rating scales. The emotional support of a contact-person was found to be most effective in reducing anxiety compared to routinely given information. Tranquilizing with diazepam showed a slightly lesser degree of anxiety reduction. A detailed information had least effect and even increased anxiety for some patients. Even the results were characterized by a large inter- and intraindividual variation, the emotional-supportive aspects of the information given were more important for anxiety reduction than the cognitive-informative aspects. The patients who had been hospitalized before were less influenced by the degree of information given, and had a higher increase in anxiety compared to the non-experienced patients.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Psychological Department, Psychiatric Hospital, Risskov.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Elsass
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D011897:Random Allocation; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014149:Tranquilizing Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D014149:Tranquilizing Agents