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Using an Educational Multimedia Application to Prepare Children for Outpatient Surgeries
Sara Fernandes1, Patrícia Arriaga1, Francisco Esteves1,2
1a Center for Research and Social Intervention (CIS-IUL) , University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL).
Insights
Educational multimedia interventions significantly reduce preoperative worries in children undergoing surgery. This approach also helps lower parental anxiety, improving the overall surgical experience.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Surgery
- Medical Psychology
- Healthcare Interventions
Background:
- Surgery presents significant stress for pediatric patients and their families.
- Preoperative care strategies aim to mitigate anxiety associated with surgical procedures.
- Understanding interventions to reduce preoperative distress is crucial for patient well-being.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the impact of an educational multimedia intervention on children's cognitive, emotional, and physiological responses to surgery.
- To assess the effect of the intervention on parental state anxiety.
- To compare the educational intervention with an entertainment video game and a control group.
Main Methods:
- A study involving 90 children undergoing surgery.
- Three groups were utilized: educational multimedia intervention, entertainment video game intervention, and a control group (no intervention).
- Outcomes measured included children's reported worries and parental state anxiety.
Main Results:
- Children receiving the educational multimedia intervention reported fewer worries about hospitalization, procedures, illness, and negative outcomes compared to both control and entertainment groups.
- Parental state anxiety was reduced in both the educational and entertainment video game groups compared to the control group.
- The educational intervention demonstrated a significant impact on reducing children's preoperative concerns.
Conclusions:
- Providing children with information about medical procedures and hospital routines effectively reduces their preoperative worries.
- Educational interventions are beneficial not only for children but also for alleviating parental anxiety.
- Multimedia educational tools can be a valuable component of preoperative care in pediatric surgery.
Abstract:
Surgery is a highly stressful event for children and caregivers. Extensive effort has been made to improve preoperative care in order to alleviate worry about the surgical procedure itself. This study tested the impact of an educational multimedia intervention on the cognitive, emotional, and physiological responses of children undergoing surgery, as well as on parental state anxiety. Children (n = 90) were assigned to three different groups: an educational multimedia intervention (experimental group), an entertainment video game intervention (comparison group), and a control group (no intervention). Children who received the educational multimedia intervention reported lower level of worries about hospitalization, medical procedures, illness, and negative consequences than those in the control and in the comparison groups. Parental state anxiety was also lower in the both the educational and the entertainment video game interventions compared to the control group. These findings suggest that providing information to children regarding medical procedures and hospital rules and routines is important to reduce their preoperative worries, and also relevant for parental anxiety.
