title: When are parents helpful? A randomized clinical trial of the efficacy of parental presence for pediatric anesthesia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the utility of parental presence to alleviate anxiety in a narrow age range of children undergoing outpatient surgery. We hypothesized that parental presence would lower anxiety scores as measured by the modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale (mYPAS) at two time-points during pediatric outpatient surgery, i.e., separation from parents and placement of the face mask for anesthetic induction.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-one children ages three to six years scheduled for various day surgery procedures participated in this study. The children were assigned randomly to either parental presence (n = 30) or parental absence (n = 31) groups. Observer-rated anxiety was measured by the mYPAS at five time-points during the surgery experience.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Child anxiety was significantly lower in the parental presence group than in the parental absence group at the time-point when the children in the parental absence group were separated from their parents, t[59] = 2.15 (P = 0.001). However, no significant group differences in anxiety scores were noted at other time-points.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that anxiety levels in children undergoing day surgical procedures differ as a function of parental presence at the point when children are separated from parents. Future research should examine the types of interactions that occur during this time-point that may explain this finding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Regina, Canada. kristi.wright@uregina.ca
authors.forename: Kristi D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: Sherry H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: G Allen
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Finley
mesh_terms: D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures; D000758:Anesthesia; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011300:Preoperative Care; D011581:Psychological Tests