The effect of web-based preoperative information on parents of children who are going through elective ambulatory surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis

To evaluate the effect of preoperative web-based information to parents of children undergoing elective ambulatory surgery performed with anesthesia. Outcome measures were parental anxiety, knowledge, and satisfaction. The review followed the PRISMA statement. A systematic search of six databases was conducted. Randomized controlled trials, cluster-randomized trials and quasi-randomized controlled trials were eligible for inclusion. Eight studies were included. An effect in favour of web-based information compared to standard information was observed for parental anxiety measured before separation from child (SMD=-0.66, 95% CI=-0.92 to -0.40) and after surgery (SMD=-0.55, 95% CI=-0.95 to -0.16), for parental knowledge measured in-hospital (SMD=1.10, Cl 95%=0.37-1.82), and parental satisfaction after discharge (SMD=1.03, 95% Cl=0.41-1.65). No effect was observed for anxiety at separation, and for satisfaction in-hospital. The certainty of the evidence varied from very low to moderate. Depending on the timing of assessment, web-based information before pediatric surgery may reduce the level of parental anxiety and increase the level of parental knowledge and satisfaction more than standard care. Web-based routines can be used to convey pre-operative information to parents before paediatric ambulatory surgery. Still, standardized research that enables further comparison across studies is needed.