Files
Download Full Text (543 KB)
Description
Studies show that families experience anxiety in the perioperative period. From the child’s perspective, coping with stressful experiences varies according to their appraisal of the situation, their experience and cognitive stage. Child stress or anxiety is best ascertained by self-report, and there is lack of evidence about the child's perspective during the pre-anesthesia period, as well as factors that relate to child anxiety. Purpose: The purpose of this project was to explore child report of anxiety during the pre-anesthesia clinic visit prior to a scheduled procedure with general anesthesia in a sample of patients ages 7 to 17 years. We also aimed to explore relationships between child anxiety, age, previous anesthesia, and parent concerns. Methods: A voluntary survey via Qualtrics was offered to English-speaking consenting families at the end of their scheduled pre-anesthesia visit at a pediatric specialty center affiliated with a regional hospital in the south central United States. The survey included the Zero to Ten visual analogue scale (VAS) for child report of anxiety. Results: Preliminary analysis of the first 70 participants revealed near 50% age 12 years or younger, approximately 30% rated their anxiety a “5” (medium) or above on the VAS (mean = 3.1), and there was almost no relationship between age and anxiety (r= 0.02). There was a small negative correlation between child anxiety and number of past procedures with anesthesia (r= -0.1) and a small positive correlation between child anxiety and parents getting all of their questions answered during the visit (r=0.2). Limitations include exclusion of Spanish-speaking families (this is a large population at our clinic). Among implications for practice is the presence of anxiety in pre- anesthesia clinic patients of all ages, especially those with less anesthesia experience. Conclusion: Use of an anxiety VAS would strengthen the assessment and psychosocial care of the pediatric perioperative patient. Further study of potential correlates of child pre-anesthesia anxiety will lead to a more child-centered approach.
Publication Date
2021
Disciplines
Pediatric Nursing
Recommended Citation
Johnson, Ann; Conley, Bonita; and Fields, Brenda, "Exploring Child Anxiety and Family Satisfaction in thePre Anesthesia Clinic" (2021). 2021. 3.
https://scholarlycollection.childrens.com/nursing-anf2021/3
