Evaluation of a patient education program for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

An audiovisual instructional program for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was evaluated in 65 patients with this disease and 20 patients without lung disease. We found that the program was successful in increasing the factual knowledge about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, with the attainment of mean scores of 88 and 95% on postteaching tests. Patients with varying educational backgrounds achieved similar gains in knowledge.