A comparison of three educational techniques used in a venereal disease clinic

The communications methods that could be used in educational programs for venereal disease patients were examined as to their relative effectiveness: a programed learning guide, an audiovisual (cinematographic) technique, and an interview method. An experimental design was used to study three groups of patients at a venereal disease clinic; (a) persons who were pretested, exposed to an educational method, and tested again, (b) a control group whose members were pretested and post-tested but not exposed to an educational method, and (c) another control group whose members were exposed to an educational method and then took a post-test. Each of those groups exposed to the educational techniques was further subdivided according to the technique applied. Analysis of the data collected from 443 subjects led to the following tentative conclusions: 1. Representation in the nine groups was demographically uniform as measured by age, sex, marital status, and ethnic origin. 2. All three educational techniques significantly raised the subjects' level of knowledge about venereal disease, as measured by their test scores. 3. All three techniques were favorably received by the subjects. The majority reported that the techniques were the right length (10 to 15 minutes), interesting, informative, useful, and anxiety-reducing. The three techniques apparently accounted for an increase of more than 20 percent in subjects' scores on tests about venereal disease, and the subjects perceived all three techniques as interesting and beneficial. The interview method proved significantly more effective than the other two techniques in raising the knowledge level. It was also the technique most favorably received by the subjects. As expected, those persons who entered the clinic with a low level of knowledge learned much more when exposed to an educational techniques than persons entering the clinic with a high level of knowledge. Reaction to the three methods did not differ significantly by the subjects' age or sex.