Comparing Anxiety and Depression Level of Parents of Children who Undergoing Surgery in an Univerty Hospital

Abstract

Purpose:The aim of this study was to investigate the anxiety and depression levels of parents of the children who hospitalized for surgery in Pediatric Surgery Department of a university hospital. Patients and Methods:The population of this descriptive and cross-sectional study consisted of the parents of the children who were hospitalized for surgery and the study sample included 164 parents (82 mothers, 82 fathers) who met the study criteria. The data were collected by Identification Form for Child, Identification Form for Parents, Beck\\\'s Anxiety Scale (BAS) and Beck’s Depression Scale (BDS) between October 2018 and May 2019 in a university hospital. Results:In the study, the mean age of children who would undergone surgery was 6.61±5.13 years, 56.1% were male and 43.9% were female. Beside 39% of children had a previous surgery history, 30,5% of them were admitted to hospital with inguinoscrotal system operations. The mean age of mothers included to the study was 35.41±7.38 years and 45.1% of them were primary school graduates, besides the mean age of fathers included to the study was 38.54±6.42 years and 35.4% of them were primary school graduates. The mean of BAS and BDS score of the mothers of the children involved to the study were higher than the mean BAS and BDS score of the fathers and there was a moderate positive correlation between BAS and BDS scores in mothers (r=0,51) and fathers (r=0,71) (p<0,01). Conclusion:As a conclusion, while comparing the levels of anxiety and depression of the mothers and the fathers of the children who would undergo surgery, it was identified that the anxiety and depression levels of mothers were higher than the fathers. By considering all these results, determining the anxiety and depression levels of the parents whose children will undergo surgery and supporting the parents may be suggested to the nurses working on field.