Preference for information and behavioral control among adult ambulatory surgical patients.

This empirical study aimed to describe the ambulatory surgical patients' information and control preferences with reference to received knowledge. The results indicate that patients' information preferences and behavioral preferences are not very high, and they seem to receive most knowledge in the biophysiological domain. The most important finding is that patients with higher preferences seem to receive less knowledge than those with lower preferences. The results suggest the need to further study nurses in the ambulatory surgery setting and the extent to which the information expectations of patients are met.