Effectiveness of Picture Book on Preoperative Anxiety Among Children (6-12 Years) in Selected Hospitals at Mangalore

Surgery can be a threatening experience for everyone, especially for children. Children are more vulnerable for anxiety due to their lack of knowledge of procedures, a lack of perceived control, a lack of explanation in childappropriate terms, and a lack of pain management. The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of picture book on preoperative anxiety among children (6-12 years). A Quasi experimental pre-test post-test control group design was used and purposive sampling technique was adopted to select the total 30 preoperative children. Hamilton anxiety rating scale was used to assess the preoperative anxiety in children. The results shown that, experimental group (80%) had severe anxiety and control group (60%) had moderate to severe anxiety in pre test and during post test highest percentage of subjects in the experimental group (53.33%) had mild to moderate anxiety while comparing to control group. The mean post-test anxiety level (24.8±2.98) was lowered than the pre-test anxiety level (32.86±3.29), t(14)=2.15, p<0.05. The mean post-test level of anxiety in experimental group (24.8±2.98) was significantly lower than the mean post-test anxiety level of the control group (30.07±2.96), t(28)=2.05, p<0.05. Hence it is revealed that picture book found effective in reducing the preoperative anxiety among children.