Effects of preoperative teaching on anxiety in pediatric ambulatory surgical patients

The purpose of the study was to test experimentally the effectiveness of a presurgical teaching intervention on reducing the anxiety of children undergoing outpatient surgery and in facilitating the children's emotional adjustment during the postsurgical period. The efficacy of a child teaching session combined with a parent teaching session was compared with the efficacy of a parent only session. The participants of the study were 33 children, ages 4 to 12, and their parents. Two weeks following the child's surgery, the parents assessed the child's postsurgical adjustment by completing the Post Hospital Behavior Questionnaire (PHBQ). Data was analyzed by t-test using.05 as the significance level. Results of the t-test showed no significant difference between the experimental and the control groups (t = 1.910, df = 27, p =.067). However, both groups showed behavioral upset on the PHBQ following surgery (control group = 87.75, experimental group = 84.46). This increased behavioral upset suggests that surgery is anxiety producing in children. The trend toward lower scores in the experimental group indicated less behavior upset and therefore less anxiety for the children receiving the teaching intervention.