Visual education methods reduced anxiety and improved comprehension versus written methods in 148 patients undergoing urodynamic testing.

This randomized controlled trial evaluated the impact of patient education methods on outcomes before urodynamic testing. The study population consisted of 148 patients scheduled for the procedure between January and April 2025. Participants were randomized into four groups: control (consent form only), written (consent form plus brochure), video (consent form plus video demonstration), and AI (consent form plus AI video animation). The primary outcome was anxiety measured using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), with secondary outcomes including procedural comprehension, hemodynamic parameters, patient satisfaction, and embarrassment scores.

Visual education methods demonstrated significantly lower anxiety scores compared to written methods, with a p-value of less than 0.001. Procedural comprehension was also significantly superior in visual education groups across all assessed domains (p < 0.001). Regarding hemodynamic parameters, no significant differences were observed between written and visual approaches (p > 0.05). Satisfaction scores were higher in visual education groups, particularly the video group (9.32 ± 1.29), though this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.07). Embarrassment scores were lower in visual education methods (4.22 ± 3.76).

When comparing real video demonstrations to AI-generated video animation, real video showed superior performance across most measured outcomes, although specific statistical values for this direct comparison were not reported in the main results. No adverse events, serious adverse events, discontinuations, or specific tolerability issues were reported in the safety data. The study limitations are not explicitly detailed in the provided text, so caution is advised when generalizing findings beyond the specific context of urodynamic testing preparation.

These findings suggest that visual education methods may be beneficial for reducing anxiety and improving understanding before urodynamic studies. However, the practice relevance should be weighed against the specific study setting and the lack of reported limitations. The superiority of real video over AI animation indicates a potential preference for authentic demonstrations, though further research is needed to confirm these trends.