Effect of Storytelling on Preoperative Anxiety and Fear among Children Undergoing Surgery

Background: Children who are faced with surgical operations may experience anxiety, panic and fear before surgery and they are needed to both physical and psychological preparation. Aim of the study: Evaluate the effect of storytelling on preoperative anxiety and fear among children undergoing surgery. Design: Quasi-experimental research design was utilized in the current study. Subjects: 100 children from 4-8 years were equally and randomly assigned into two groups, the first was the control group and the second was storytelling intervention group. Setting: The current study was conducted at the General Pediatric Surgical Unit at Cairo University Specialized Pediatric Hospital (CUSPH). Tools: an Interview Structured Questionnaire was developed by the researchers, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, and Children's Fear Scale was utilized for collecting the data. Results: Preoperative anxiety scores and fear were lower among children after storytelling intervention than before. Highly statistically significant differences were detected between the total mean score of anxiety scores and fear in the pretest and posttest before surgery (P=0.000). Conclusion: Storytelling method is an effective distraction technique for reducing preoperative anxiety and fear among children undergoing surgery compared to children in the control group who received routine hospital care. Recommendations: Application of the storytelling technique as non- pharmacological management beside routine hospital programs for children undergoing surgery is recommended among nurses who care children in order to reduce preoperative anxiety, panic and fear level.