Effect of Toys and Preoperative Visit on Reducing Children’s Anxiety and their Parents before Surgery and Satisfaction with the Treatment Process

INTRODUCTION: Hospital anxiety and surgery has an unpleasant and disturbing feeling for a child and his/her family. This study aimed to determine the effect of toys and visit in reducing children's anxiety before the surgery and their mothers and satisfaction with the treatment process. METHODS: This was a quasi-experimental study in posttest design with a control group. 60 children aged 3 to 8 years, who were undergoing ear, nose and throat surgery in Tabriz Amiralmomenin hospital, were chosen, and regarding their age and gender, were recruited into the control or experiment group. For the experiment group, the interventions before surgery were applied. The level of anxiety in children and parents was evaluated by Observation Scale of Behavioral Distress (OSBD-R) and Spielberger State Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The level of parental satisfaction with the treatment process before being discharged from the hospital was evaluated by the process of treatment satisfaction questionnaire (PSQ-18). Data were analyzed by SPSS ver.13. RESULTS: Mean anxiety scores of the children and mothers in the experimental group were lower than the control group. Mean maternal satisfaction score of the treatment process in the experimental group was higher than the mean scores of the control group. However, in the subscales of general satisfaction, interpersonal behavior, and financial aspects of satisfaction with treatment, no statistical significant difference was found between the experimental and control groups. CONCLUSION: Based on the findings, providing toys for children and informing the parents about medical information has a major effect in reducing children's and other's anxiety and increasing maternal satisfaction with the treatment process.