The Evaluation of Video Teaching on Preoperative Anxiety in the Outpatient Pediatric Surgical Patient

Preoperative anxiety is common among pediatric surgical patients. Numerous studies have evaluated measures to reduce preoperative anxiety in both adult and pediatric patients; however, limited research exists on the impact of preoperative video teaching in pediatric outpatient surgical patients. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of preoperative video teaching on preoperative anxiety in pediatric patients age seven to 14 undergoing outpatient surgery. Design and Methods: The study operated as a two group, post-test comparison study, in which a convenience sample of 60 patients were randomized to either the control (30 patients) or study (30 patients) groups. In addition, participants randomized to the study group were further analyzed as a pre-post comparison study of the effect of preoperative video teaching on state-anxiety. All patients enrolled in the study completed the StateTrait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAI-CH), a 40-question survey that measures both state-anxiety, how you feel right now, and trait-anxiety, how you usually feel. Participants randomized to the study group then watched a short preoperative teaching video that described what the patient would experience on the day of surgery. Following viewing of the video, study participants again completed the State-Anxiety Inventory. Results: A significant difference (p = 0.048) was noted in the study group between the pre-video state-anxiety score (32.43 ± 6.4) and the post-video state-anxiety score (30.75 ± 5.63). Differences in level of nervousness between the pre (1.68± 0.612) and post (1.43 ± 0.634) video state-anxiety scores were also significant (p = 0.002). iii Conclusion: Preoperative video teaching can be utilized to decrease preoperative anxiety and nervousness in the pediatric outpatient surgical patients