The effect of the amount of feedback on anxiety levels during ultrasound scanning

This study examined the influence of different levels of feedback and of other situational and buffering variables on the psychological effects of ultrasound examinations of 211 pregnant women. The patients were randomly assigned to two different experimental conditions: high feedback and low feedback. The subjects' levels of anxiety (both trait- and state-anxiety) were measured immediately before and after the ultrasound examination. Overall, there was a significant decrease in the level of state-anxiety, which could not be explained by the different levels of feedback provided. Situational and buffering variables were not found to be related to the degree of psychological benefit produced by the scan. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.