Comparative Analysis: Implementation of a Pre-operative Educational Intervention to Decrease Anxiety Among Parents of Children With Congenital Heart Disease

Purpose: The present study evaluated the efficacy of a nursing educational intervention in alleviating the level of parental anxiety in the parents of children who required heart surgery for the first time.

Design And Methods: A comparative study was used to explore the parents of children who had to undergo cardiac surgery. Parents of children were randomized into 2 groups: 1) control group and 2) experimental group or parents that received the educational intervention about PICU stay.

Result: The results of STAY-1 showed that the average anxiety score of group 1 was lower than that of group 2 (63.0 [SD=3.5] vs. 70.4 [SD=2.8]).

Conclusion: In order to decrease levels of parental anxiety and stress prior to paediatric surgery, parents should be adequately informed about planned therapeutic procedures.

Practice Implications: We speculate that pre-surgery parent education on what to expect before, during and after their child's cardiac surgery may improve parents' knowledge and satisfaction and decrease anxiety.