The effect of personal relevance on learning stroke symptoms/response

The aim of this study was to test the effect of increasing the personal relevance of stroke symptom information on learning stroke symptoms/emergency response. A randomized pretest-posttest double-blind study design was used. A total of 173 community-dwelling adults participated. Treatment participants read the personally relevant statement, "Learn about stroke to save someone you love," completed the Stroke Action Test pretest, read the National Institute of Neurological Disorder and Stroke pamphlet titled Know Stroke. Know the Signs. Act in Time, and responded to the Stroke Action Test posttest. The control condition differed only in the omission of the personally relevant statement. The treatment group learned significantly more than the control group, F(1, 170) = 7.46, p < .007, eta2 = .02. The mean items learned by the treatment group was 8.3 (SD = 5.67) compared to the control group mean of 6.2 (SD = 5.76). Prefacing stroke prevention information with the statement, "Learn about stroke to save someone you love," could result in greater learning of stroke symptoms/response.