‘Preoperative information helps my child and I experience less anxiety and fear’: A grounded study examining parents' opinions and expectations

Purpose

This study aimed to investigate the opinions and experiences of parents whose children are hospitalized in a pediatric surgery clinic in Turkey regarding care practices.

Design and methods

Sixteen in-depth interviews with parents whose children were hospitalized in a pediatric surgery clinic were conducted and analyzed between October and December 2023, by grounded theory methodology. The COREQ guidelines guided the reporting of this study.

Results

A core category was identified, ‘Preoperative information helps my child and I experience less anxiety and fear’ demonstrating that parents are aware of their situation. Analyzing resulted in an interpretive theory of two interrelated categories: ‘Quality Nursing Care’ and ‘Patient and Parent Satisfaction’.

Conclusion

Children and parents who received accurate, sufficient, and timely information experienced less anxiety and fear in the preoperative. Quality nursing care significantly affects the well-being of parents and pediatric patients. As a result of all these, high patient and parent satisfaction is an important care outcome.

Practice implications

Reducing the anxiety and fears of pediatric patients and parents in the preoperative is an important goal. Quality nursing care is one of the most important perceived factors in achieving this goal. Providing in-service training on this subject can increase awareness, especially for nurses new to the pediatric surgery clinic.