State anxiety in Jordanian parents of children undergoing same day surgery

Abstract EN

Introduction: Same day pediatric surgery is becoming more prevalent, with thousands of children undergoing such surgery globally.

Perioperative parental stress and anxiety have been associated with lack of adherence in pre- and postoperative instructions, including inadequate pain management by parents.

Aim: To describe pre- and post-operative parental state anxiety in a pediatric same day surgery in a military hospital in Amman, Jordan.

Method: This descriptive study has been conducted with a convenience sample of 46 parents.

Parental levels of state anxiety have been measured using the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S) prior to and one hour following their child’s surgery.

Descriptive statistics have been used for data analysis.

Results: Seventy four percent of the parents have shown clinically significant state anxiety before surgery compared with forty eight percent postsurgery.

Statistically, there was a significant decline in the parents’ levels of state anxiety pre and post operatively t (46) = 3.93, p=0.005.

Mothers experienced significantly higher levels of state anxiety compared with fathers (82% vs.

61%), (57% vs.

33%) pre and post-operative scores respectively.

Conclusion: The majority of parents have approached their child’ same day surgery with a high level of state anxiety, which decreased significantly after surgery.

The need for strategies to deal with parents' state anxiety is essential.

Perioperative nurses can play a vital role in parents’ preparation for their child’s surgery.