Reducing the anxiety of children undergoing surgery: parental presence during anaesthetic induction.

OBJECTIVE: The primary aim was to determine whether child anxiety could be reduced by the presence of a parent during anaesthetic induction. Secondary aims involved clarification of the effect of the timing of parental separation, the use of premedication, the seriousness of the surgical procedure, and the flow-on effect of parental anxiety on the level of child anxiety. METHODOLOGY: Subjects were obtained by approaching all parents of children aged from 1 to 8 years admitted for day surgery to a private hospital in Adelaide, South Australia during a 3 month period. Data pertaining to 74 children, representing a response rate of 80.4%, were obtained. Parents were instructed to rate the anxiety of their child for the period immediately prior to separation, and to then rate their own anxiety for the same period of time. RESULTS: Children accompanied during induction were less anxious than those who were not accompanied. Contrary to the belief that child anxiety might be reduced by allowing separation in the theatre holding bay area, it was demonstrated that child anxiety was higher in this group than when separation occurred in the ward. No relationship between premedication or operation severity and either child or parental anxiety was observed. However, parental anxiety was noted to be a significant predictor of child anxiety. Suggestions for a more detailed examination of the relationship between child and parental anxiety in future research were outlined. CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that there are benefits in allowing parents to be present during anaesthetic induction. However, the potential negative effect of parental anxiety must be acknowledged before parents are allowed to accompany their child as a matter of course.