• Kristi D Wright, Sherry H Stewart, and G Allen Finley.
• Department of Psychology, University of Regina, Canada. kristi.wright@uregina.ca
• Can J Anaesth. 2010 Aug 1;57(8):751-8.

PurposeTo examine the utility of parental presence to alleviate anxiety in a narrow age range of children undergoing outpatient surgery. We hypothesized that parental presence would lower anxiety scores as measured by the modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale (mYPAS) at two time-points during pediatric outpatient surgery, i.e., separation from parents and placement of the face mask for anesthetic induction.MethodSixty-one children ages three to six years scheduled for various day surgery procedures participated in this study. The children were assigned randomly to either parental presence (n = 30) or parental absence (n = 31) groups. Observer-rated anxiety was measured by the mYPAS at five time-points during the surgery experience.ResultsChild anxiety was significantly lower in the parental presence group than in the parental absence group at the time-point when the children in the parental absence group were separated from their parents, t[59] = 2.15 (P = 0.001). However, no significant group differences in anxiety scores were noted at other time-points.ConclusionsOur results suggest that anxiety levels in children undergoing day surgical procedures differ as a function of parental presence at the point when children are separated from parents. Future research should examine the types of interactions that occur during this time-point that may explain this finding.

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