Use of videotape feedback as a psychotherapeutic nursing approach with long-term psychiatric patients: A pilot study.

Abstract

In a study of 50 long-term patients, ranging in age from 20 to 63, in a large psychiatric hospital in which 25 patients were placed in an experimental group (with videotape feedback) and 25 were in a control group (without videotape feedback), the use of videotape was found to be effective in bringing about significant change in the patient's behavior as measured by a Personal and Social Competence Inventory. The use of videotape, however, was not a factor in the placement of patients on convalescent leave. More experimental subjects than control subjects who went on leave remained in the community. Length of hospitalization was related to increased dependency but not to leave rates, improvement within the hospital, or videotaped experience. Age alone was not related to degree of dependency, but younger patients (under age 40) with longer stays (ten to 23 years) had the lowest rehabilitation rates. Patients in the experimental group between the age of 40 and 49, showed a significant improvement. Females were less dependent than males and showed more improvement. There was a significant difference between the base-line dependency scores of patients placed on leave and those who remained in the hospital. Significantly more patients were placed on leave in the study population than in the parent population from which the sample was drawn.