The psychological effect of three different forms of patient information

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.