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Anxiety reaction of hospitalized children
Insights
Childhood hospitalization anxiety is influenced by trait anxiety and perceived maternal anxiety. Environmental factors like hospital type had less impact, but interaction effects were observed, highlighting the need for holistic support.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Psychology
- Child Psychiatry
- Health Psychology
Background:
- Hospitalization is a significant stressor for children.
- Understanding factors influencing a child's anxiety during hospitalization is crucial for effective interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of personal (trait anxiety), interpersonal (maternal anxiety), and environmental (hospital type) factors on children's anxiety during hospitalization.
- To examine the interplay between these factors in predicting child anxiety levels.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study involving hospitalized children.
- Assessment of child's trait anxiety, perceived maternal anxiety, and anxiety state.
- Comparison of anxiety levels between traditional hospital and day clinic settings.
Main Results:
- Child's trait anxiety and perceived maternal anxiety were significant predictors of experienced anxiety.
- Type of hospitalization did not significantly impact overall anxiety levels.
- An interaction effect was found: highly anxious children perceiving anxious mothers reported more anxiety in a day clinic setting compared to a traditional hospital.
Conclusions:
- Childhood hospitalization anxiety is multifactorial, significantly influenced by individual predispositions and family dynamics.
- Interpersonal factors, particularly perceived maternal anxiety, play a critical role.
- While hospital type may not be a primary driver, its interaction with child and maternal anxiety warrants consideration in care planning.
Abstract:
This study suggests that the child's emotional reaction to hospitalization is determined by personal, interpersonal and environmental factors. The personal attribute investigated was the child's predisposition to experience anxiety, namely, trait anxiety. The interpersonal influence was the perceived level of maternal anxiety, and the environmental influence was type of hospitalization--traditional hospital or day clinic. We hypothesized that hospitalized children with high trait anxiety would experience higher anxiety state than children with low trait anxiety; hospitalized children who perceive anxious rather than calm mothers would experience more anxiety; children in a traditional hospital would experience higher anxiety state than children in a day clinic; and the most anxious children would be those who have high trait anxiety, are exposed to anxious mothers and are hospitalized in a traditional hospital. Results indicate that the child's level of trait anxiety predicted the level of experienced anxiety and so did perceived maternal anxiety. Type of hospitalization did not influence the level of anxiety, but children with high trait anxiety who attributed to their mothers a high level of anxiety reported more anxiety in the day clinic rather than in the hospital. The findings imply that, when helping children and families deal with hospitalization, personal, interpersonal and environmental factors have to be considered.