Current status of psychosocial intervention research for pediatric outpatient surgery

We reviewed 20 published studies of psychosocial interventions (i. e., preo perative preparation, parental presence) for children undergoing outpatient surgical procedures. The effectiveness of different intervention strategie s on child and parent outcomes is summarized Few positive effects were foun d for any of the psychosocial interventions. However, only a small number o f randomized controlled trials were conducted and many of the studies using quasi-experimental designs had significant methodological problems that li mited the interpretation of their findings, Research recommendations are de scribed such as strengthening methodological rigor, making intervention str ategies relevant to outpatient surgery,, and using developmentally appropri ate intervention strategies.