Validation of measures of parents' preoperative anxiety and anesthesia knowledge

Parents' anxiety about their children's anesthesia may adversely affect the children's outcomes and compromise the quality of informed consent. Studie s of these issues have been limited by the lack of validated measures of pa rental anxiety and knowledge surrounding anesthesia. In the present study, we evaluated psychometric properties of the Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale (APAIS) and the Standard Anesthesia Learning Test (SA LT) among 85 parents who participated in an evaluation of the effects of a videotape about pediatric anesthesia. The results supported the internal co nsistency, test-retest reliability, and concurrent validity of both instrum ents and documented the equivalence of two forms of the SALT. Factor analys is supported the previously demonstrated factor structure of the APAIS, fur ther confirming its construct validity. We conclude that the APAIS and SALT are reliable and valid measures of parental anxiety and knowledge of pedia tric anesthesia that can be used for clinical and research purposes. Implic ations: This study verified the reliability and validity of two questionnai res for measuring parents' knowledge and anxiety about pediatric anesthesia . These questionnaires can be used in further research on factors affecting parental anxiety and knowledge before their children's surgery.