Digitally Recorded Education: Effects on Anxiety and Knowledge Recall in Patients Receiving First-Time Chemotherapy

Prechemotherapy information is overwhelming, and retention of critical information can be challenging. Patients from a Southern California infusion clinic had varying degrees of retention when nurses used traditional one-on-one teaching with supplemental handouts.

The intent of this article is to determine the effectiveness of standardized, digitally recorded education as an alternative teaching method for increasing knowledge recall and decreasing anxiety in English- and Spanish-speaking patients receiving first-time chemotherapy.

Baseline data were obtained from five patients who received traditional teaching. Using a pre-/post-test design, 92 patients receiving digitally recorded education completed a paper-and-pencil instrument that rated their anxiety and knowledge recall.

The digitally recorded education method produced significant decreases in anxiety and increases in knowledge recall.