title: Interactive web-based format vs conventional brochure material for information transfer to children and parents: a randomized controlled trial regarding preoperative information.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Information transfer to patients is an integral part of modern medicine. Internet-based alternatives represent a new and attractive way for information transfer.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study used a prospective observer-blinded design. Children (3-12 years) and parents were instructed to get further preoperative information either through an interactive web-based platform, the Anaesthesia-Web, or conventional brochure material until day of outpatient surgery. On the day of surgery, children and parents were separately asked six different questions. The primary end-point was to compare the total question score in children between the two information options (maximum score = 36). Secondary aims were the total question score for parents and the influence of age, sex, and time between the preoperative visit and day of surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 125 children were recruited, of which 103 were included in the final analysis (the Anaesthesia-Web group, n = 49; the brochure material group, n = 54). At the predetermined interim analysis, the total question score in children was found to be substantially higher in the Anaesthesia-Web group than in the brochure material group (median score: 27; IQR: 16.5-33 and median score: 19.5; IQR: 11.25-27.75, respectively, P = 0.0076). The median difference in score was 6; 95% CI: 0-9. The total question score in parents was also higher in the Anaesthesia-Web group than in the brochure material group. Increasing child age was associated with a higher total question score in both groups. Sex did not influence the total question score in the Anaesthesia-Web group, whereas girls scored better than boys in the brochure material group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Children in the age range 3-12 years of age as well as their parents do better attain preoperative information from an interactive web-based platform compared to conventional brochure material.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.|Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Gunilla
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3872-9633
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lööf
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liljeberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Women's and Children's Health, Childhood Cancer Research Unit, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.|Division of Paediatrics, Karolinska University Hospital, Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Staffan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eksborg
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.|Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Per-Arne
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Lönnqvist
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D010174:Pamphlets; D010290:Parents; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D057234:Preoperative Period; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors
keywords: Internet; anesthesia; child; information; preoperative; randomized controlled trial; surgery