AN EVALUATION OF PREOPERATIVE ANXIETY IN A POPULATION OF PARENTS OF INFANTS AND CHILDREN UNDERGOING AMBULATORY SURGERY

We attempted to identify specific predictors of preoperative parental anxiety in a population of parents of healthy infants and children und ergoing elective, outpatient surgery. We specifically examined the fol lowing factors: age of the child, whether or not the child had previou s surgery, whether or not the parents' other children had previous sur gery, parental gender, highest level of education obtained by the pare nt, and whether or not there was prior discussion between the parent a nd anaesthesiologist. In the immediate preoperative period, a question naire (State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory) was given to all parents of infa nts and children presenting for elective, outpatient surgery. Six hund red parents of 417 children, aged two months to 16 years (mean = 4.5 y ears), participated in the study. They included 388 mothers and 212 fa thers. Our results indicate that parents are more anxious when their c hild is less than one year of age and when it is the child's first sur gery. When assessed separately by parental gender, both these factors were significant for mothers but not their fathers. We recommend that, although anaesthesiologists generally tailor their preoperative prepa ration based upon the best needs of their patients and families, they pay special attention to the groups we have identified which are at in creased risk for preoperative anxiety.