Investigating the effects of a brief preoperative psychological intervention on children's postoperative adjustment and recovery

Admission for surgery can be a major source of distress for children with adverse effects on their postoperative adjustment and recovery. Moreover, children represent an especially vulnerable age group among surgical patients and thus the need for providing them with reliable information about their health becomes more and more pertinent. Despite the voluminous body of research citing the advantages of preoperative psychological preparation for surgery, little attention has been given to the clinical relevance of preparatory interventions and their transferability to existing clinical settings. The purpose of the present study was to address this gap by exploring the clinical relevance of a 15-minute preoperative information booklet for children, parents and the nursing staff and by assessing the feasibility of preoperative preparation in the health care setting. It was shown that preoperative preparation is a promising intervention that can serve both as a communicative tool between the child and the health professional as well as a preventive measure for enhancing children's cooperation and reducing health professionals' perceived workload.