A META-ANALYSIS OF STUDIES WHICH EXAMINE THE EFFECT PREOPERATIVE INSTRUCTION OF ADULTS HAS ON POSTOPERATIVE OUTCOMES.
Contributors: University of Texas at Austin.
Published: 1984
Number of pages: 212
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: A meta-analysis was performed on 68 studies which have examined the effect preoperative instruction had on postoperative outcomes. The 68 subject-studies represented 2,413 experimental subjects and 1,605 control group subjects. The 423 individual effect sizes produced by the subject-studies were coded of independent and dependent variables. Independent variables were categorized according to type of content, method of organization, type of presentation and level of patient's fear/anxiety. Dependent variables were coded in a manner that allowed progressive aggregation of effect sizes from specific types of outcomes to broader categories of outcomes.

The 423 individual effect sizes had a mean effect size of .44 and variance of 2.43. Although the variance is substantial, the mean effect size indicates that in terms of postoperative outcomes, an average patient who receives preoperative instruction is at the 67th percentile of a similar group of patients who did not receive preoperative instruction.

Analysis of independent variable categories revealed psychological content and mixed forms of content which included procedural and psychological information produce moderately positive effect sizes with relatively low variances. Categories of organization and presentation did not produce data which demonstrated a difference in the levels analyzed. Effect sizes grouped according to the patient's level of fear/anxiety indicated that the greatest effects are achieved with patients having high levels of fear/anxiety. The most consistent results were found with moderate levels of fear/anxiety.

When categorized by dependent variables, all effect sizes remained positive. The variances accompanying each effect size remained relatively substantial at all levels of aggregation, with small variances found only at the greatest level of specificity.

The results of this meta-analysis support preoperative instruction as an intervention which has a favorable effect on postoperative outcomes by consistently demonstrating the positive effect of this intervention regardless of the manner in which individual subject-studies were aggregated.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-02, Section: B, page: 0475.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, 1984.

School code: 0227.