Are Parental Perceived Stress and Anxiety Predictors of Postoperative Recovery in Children?
Elaine Huang
Mentor: Michelle A. Fortier
High levels of preoperative anxiety in both parents and children are associated with negative postoperative
behavioral changes in children. Parental anxiety has been found to be a predictor for higher levels of anxiety
in children in the preoperative and postoperative setting. This study examined the effects of parental stress
and anxiety on children’s postoperative recovery at home following outpatient surgery. Participants included
434 children aged 2 to 15 years old undergoing outpatient tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. Parents
completed the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T) before surgery,
and the Recovery Inventory for their children on postoperative days one, two, three, seven, and fourteen at
home. Using Pearson product-moment correlation, parental trait anxiety was found to be negatively
associated with children’s recovery on day 1. Chi-square analyses also demonstrated that a lesser proportion
of children with parents who reported high anxiety were categorized as having “good” recovery compared to
children with low anxiety parents. No significant associations were found between parental perceived stress
and children’s postoperative recovery. Results of this study suggest that children with high anxiety parents
may exhibit poorer postoperative recovery compared to children of low anxiety parents. It is also possible
that high anxiety impacts parental perceptions of children’s postoperative recovery. Future research is needed
in order to understand the relationship between parental anxiety and children’s surgical recovery to identify
best methods of targeting parental anxiety in interventions in the pediatric surgical setting.