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. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.