New Era for an Age-Old Problem? Reducing Parental and Child Anxiety Through Technology

Abstract

I HAVE BEEN A pediatric nurse for a very, very long time! Since day 1 on the pediatric ward in nursing school, I, like most nurses, learned about the important negative impact that parental and child anxiety can have on the child's health and well-being. For more than 3 decades, research has shown how parental anxiety is associated with increased child anxiety and also how child anxiety relates to a host of problems during and after the hospital experience. Outcomes such as hospital length of stay, postoperative agitation and pain, and longer term maladaptive behaviors such as sleep disturbance and separation anxiety have all been associated to varying degrees with the child's level of anxiety during the hospitalization. Anxiety surrounding the surgical experience has been a particular research focus for anesthesiologists and perioperative nurses. Efforts to reduce and minimize perioperative anxiety for children and their parents have included informational brochures, educational videos, on-site preoperative education programs and tours, anxiolytics, and use of parental presence during induction and in the recovery room. Most pediatric nurses are at least somewhat familiar with most if not all these measures, and many have been shown to be efficacious in reducing child and parent anxiety. Terri Voepel-Lewis, PhD, RN, Associate Research Scientist, Section of Pediatrics, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI