Optimizing Preoperative Communication: A Patient-Centered, Convergence Design Comparison of Low-Realism and Highly Realistic Medical Illustrations

This study, conducted between January and March 2025, compared the effects of highly realistic and low-realism style medical illustrations on preoperative anxiety in the context of open appendectomy. A within-subject, repeated-measures experiment with 159 participants was conducted, where two sets of illustrations with identical content were randomly presented. The results showed that the low-realism style significantly reduced state anxiety (Cohen’s dz=0.61) and perceived threat (Cohen’s dz=0.71), with no difference in surgical understanding. Participants preferred the low-realism style (40.3% vs 19.5%), citing "reducing fear and bloody feeling" as a key theme. These findings suggest that low-realism illustrations are effective in alleviating anxiety while maintaining information delivery, supporting the use of this style in preoperative education.