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Children's Shyness in a Surgical Setting
Cheryl H T Chow1, Nadine Nejati2, Kristie L Poole3
1Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.
Insights
Temperamentally shy children experienced less preoperative anxiety before surgery. These findings suggest shy children may possess coping strategies beneficial for managing surgical stress.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Psychology
- Surgical Anxiety Research
Background:
- Preoperative anxiety is a common concern in children undergoing surgery.
- Understanding factors influencing preoperative anxiety is crucial for effective management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between childhood temperament, specifically shyness, and levels of preoperative anxiety.
- To explore if temperamental traits predict anxiety in the surgical context.
Main Methods:
- Assessed temperamental shyness using the Colorado Childhood Temperament Inventory in 40 children (aged 8-13) undergoing elective surgery.
- Measured preoperative anxiety using the Children's Perioperative Multidimensional Anxiety Scale at one week (T1) and on the day of surgery (T2).
Main Results:
- Temperamental shyness was found to predict significantly lower levels of preoperative anxiety at both T1 (β = -10.78, p = .03) and T2 (β = -12.31, p = .03).
Conclusions:
- Paradoxically, temperamentally shy children may exhibit lower preoperative anxiety due to developed coping strategies from managing everyday anxieties.
- Findings highlight the importance of considering individual temperament in understanding and managing children's anxiety in healthcare settings.
- Implications for person-by-context interactions and clinical interventions for pediatric surgical anxiety are discussed.
Objective:
We examined the relation between temperament and preoperative anxiety in 40 children (aged 8-13) who were undergoing elective surgery one week prior to surgery Time 1 (T1) and on the day of surgery Time 2 (T2).
Method:
Children's temperamental shyness was examined using the Colorado Childhood Temperament Inventory at T1, and preoperative anxiety was assessed using the Children's Perioperative Multidimensional Anxiety Scale at T1 and T2.
Results:
We found that temperamental shyness predicted lower preoperative anxiety at T1 (β = -10.78; p = .03) and at T2 (β = -12.31; p = .03).
Conclusion:
We speculate that temperamentally shy children although seemingly paradoxical, our findings suggest that temperamentally shy children may have developed coping strategies from dealing with persistent anxiety in their everyday environments, and they may use these coping skills in the surgical context. These findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications for understanding person by context interactions and managing children's preoperative anxiety.
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