title: Importance of information following myocardial infarction: a study of the self-perceived information needs of patients and their spouse/partner compared with the perceptions of nursing staff.
abstract: A non-experimental research design using questionnaires, was undertaken to find out what information out of that commonly given following myocardial infarction (MI), patients and their spouse/partners rate as being most and least important. These results were then compared with the results obtained from nurse subjects, who were given the same instrument to complete. Eighteen subjects were recruited for each of the three subject groups. Results indicated that some congruency existed between the three groups in terms of what they perceived as the most and least important categories of information. Yet, the scores for some informational categories included on the instrument, were significantly different between the nursing and two other groups (P < 0.01). However, in relation to the patient and spouse/partner groups, only a weak difference (P < 0.10) was found for the category 'dietary information'. These findings and others are discussed, and recommendations are made for improving the information giving process post-MI.
authors.affiliation: Essex Rivers Healthcare Trust, Colchester General Hospital, England.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Turton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003325:Coronary Care Units; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000523:psychology*; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000523:psychology*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires