title: Audiovisual aid viewing immediately before pediatric induction moderates the accompanying parents' anxiety.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Parents accompanying their child during induction of anesthesia experience stress. The impact of audiovisual aid (AVA) on parental state anxiety and assessment of the child's anxiety at induction have been studied previously but need closer scrutiny.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and twenty parents whose children were scheduled for day-care surgery entered this randomized, controlled study. The intervention group (n = 60) was exposed to an AVA in the holding area. Parental anxiety was measured with the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale (APAIS) at three time points: (i) on admission [T1]; (ii) in the holding area just before entering the operating theater [T2]; and (iii) after leaving [T3]. Additionally, at [T3], both parent and attending anesthetist evaluated the child's anxiety using a visual analogue scale. The anesthetist also filled out the Induction Compliance Checklist.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On the state anxiety subscale, APAIS parental anxiety at T2 (P = 0.015) and T3 (P = 0.009) was lower in the AVA intervention group than in the control group. After induction, the child's anxiety rating by the anesthetist was significantly lower than by the parent, in both intervention and control groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Preoperative AVA shown to parents immediately before induction moderates the increase in anxiety associated with the anesthetic induction of their child. Present results suggest that behavioral characteristics seem better predictors of child's anxiety during induction than anxiety ratings per se and that anesthetists are better than parents in predicting child's anxiety during induction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, ZNA Middelheim, Queen Paola Children's Hospital, Antwerp, Belgium. johan.berghmans@edpnet.be
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Berghmans
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Candyce
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: van Akoleyen
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Utens
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Adriaenssens
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Himpe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures; D000758:Anesthesia; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001296:Audiovisual Aids; D057189:Checklist; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007430:Intraoperative Care / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome