Preoperative care

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.

This study investigated the effect of nature-based sounds on the preoperative anxiety of 30 patients scheduled for elective surgical procedures. Preoperative anxiety was measured utilizing a visual analog scale. Of the 30 subjects who were randomly placed in either control or experimental groups, 15 subjects comprised the experimental group who were provided with nature-based sounds, and 15 subjects comprised the control group who listened to non-vocal musical sounds. Pre-test data were collected upon admission to the preoperative area, while post-test data were collected prior to entering the operating room suite. Measurements consisting of blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate were also obtained both times. Using the t-statistic, results showed significant differences in the anxiety responses and the systolic blood pressures of patients who were provided with nature-based sounds than those provided with non-vocal musical sounds. The results of this study suggest that nature-based sound decreases anxiety responses of the preoperative patient.