Factors affecting learning during health education sessions.

Background noise and interruption were examined for their effects on learning health information. The final sample consisted of 48 college students randomly assigned to one of four conditions in a pretest-posttest, double-blind, 2 x 2 experiment comparing noise (noise/no noise) by interruption (interruption/no interruption). Students viewed one of four videotapes about safe antibiotic use and then completed the posttest. The group watching the videotape with no distraction learned significantly more than the group watching the videotape with noise and with interruption. The results suggest that distraction during health teaching adversely affects the ability to learn health information.