The Effect of a Concrete-Objective Information Support Program on the Anxiety of First-Time Stroke Patients’ Family Members in the Emergency Room

Abstract

Concrete-objective information involves a communication process marked by clarity and directness, designed to help individuals form mental imagery and knowledge structures for managing their responses in threatening situations. This quasi-experimental study utilized a two-group pretest-posttest design to investigate the effects of a concrete-objective information support program on the anxiety levels of family members of first-time stroke patients in the emergency room at Sunpasitthiprasong Hospital. The sample consisted of 60 family members, evenly divided into experimental and control groups, with 30 participants in each. The research instruments included the information support program, a general information questionnaire, and an anxiety assessment questionnaire during confrontation, all validated for content by five experts, achieving a content validity index (IOC) of 0.85. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, and paired t-test.

Results: The study demonstrated that family members of stroke patients in the emergency department who were part of the experimental group showed a significant reduction in anxiety scores after the intervention, compared to their scores before the intervention (p < 0.05). Additionally, the post-intervention anxiety scores of family members in the experimental group were notably lower than those of family members who received standard nursing care (p < 0.05). These findings indicate that implementing a concrete–objective information support program through video media can effectively reduce anxiety among family members of first-time stroke patients in the emergency department. Therefore, it is recommended that this program, designed to meet the needs of families, be implemented to effectively alleviate anxiety.