Easing Parental Worries: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis on Preoperative Education Methods for Reducing Anxiety in Parents of Children Undergoing Surgery

Parental anxiety during the time leading up to a child’s surgery is a major concern. One approach that’s gained attention for helping ease this stress is preoperative education, but there’s still no clear agreement on which type of educational method works best. This review looked into a range of ed...

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Main Authors: Saundarya Priyadarshini, Sandeep Agarwala, Harsh Priya, Vishesh Jain, Prabudh Goel, Anjan Dhua, Devendra Kumar Yadav
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2025-07-01
Series:Journal of Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/jiaps.jiaps_276_24
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author Saundarya Priyadarshini
Sandeep Agarwala
Harsh Priya
Vishesh Jain
Prabudh Goel
Anjan Dhua
Devendra Kumar Yadav
author_facet Saundarya Priyadarshini
Sandeep Agarwala
Harsh Priya
Vishesh Jain
Prabudh Goel
Anjan Dhua
Devendra Kumar Yadav
author_sort Saundarya Priyadarshini
collection DOAJ
description Parental anxiety during the time leading up to a child’s surgery is a major concern. One approach that’s gained attention for helping ease this stress is preoperative education, but there’s still no clear agreement on which type of educational method works best. This review looked into a range of educational strategies to find out which ones are most effective at lowering anxiety in parents. Between January and March 2024, researchers conducted an extensive search across databases like PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. They focused on studies that evaluated preoperative education for parents, specifically targeting those that measured parental anxiety using validated tools. From this search, 23 studies were included in the final review, and 19 of them, involving nearly 2,000 participants, were analyzed in a network meta-analysis. The interventions examined varied and included things like videos, web-based platforms, printed booklets, multimedia content, and educational games. When all the data were compared, web-based education stood out as the most effective, with a significant reduction in anxiety levels (SMD = −1.40). Video-based approaches also helped, though to a lesser extent (SMD = −0.42). On the other hand, booklets and game-based education didn’t seem to have as strong an impact. In short, web-based educational tools appear to be the best option for helping parents manage the stress of their child’s upcoming surgery. These findings could help hospitals and surgical teams choose the most effective ways to prepare and support families during this challenging time.
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institution Kabale University
issn 0971-9261
1998-3891
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publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
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spelling doaj-art-63fcf53958544dbbb388ec503e0fa5ce2025-08-20T04:01:48ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsJournal of Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons0971-92611998-38912025-07-0130442743710.4103/jiaps.jiaps_276_24Easing Parental Worries: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis on Preoperative Education Methods for Reducing Anxiety in Parents of Children Undergoing SurgerySaundarya PriyadarshiniSandeep AgarwalaHarsh PriyaVishesh JainPrabudh GoelAnjan DhuaDevendra Kumar YadavParental anxiety during the time leading up to a child’s surgery is a major concern. One approach that’s gained attention for helping ease this stress is preoperative education, but there’s still no clear agreement on which type of educational method works best. This review looked into a range of educational strategies to find out which ones are most effective at lowering anxiety in parents. Between January and March 2024, researchers conducted an extensive search across databases like PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. They focused on studies that evaluated preoperative education for parents, specifically targeting those that measured parental anxiety using validated tools. From this search, 23 studies were included in the final review, and 19 of them, involving nearly 2,000 participants, were analyzed in a network meta-analysis. The interventions examined varied and included things like videos, web-based platforms, printed booklets, multimedia content, and educational games. When all the data were compared, web-based education stood out as the most effective, with a significant reduction in anxiety levels (SMD = −1.40). Video-based approaches also helped, though to a lesser extent (SMD = −0.42). On the other hand, booklets and game-based education didn’t seem to have as strong an impact. In short, web-based educational tools appear to be the best option for helping parents manage the stress of their child’s upcoming surgery. These findings could help hospitals and surgical teams choose the most effective ways to prepare and support families during this challenging time.https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/jiaps.jiaps_276_24anxietypreoperative educationvideo-based educationweb-based education
spellingShingle Saundarya Priyadarshini
Sandeep Agarwala
Harsh Priya
Vishesh Jain
Prabudh Goel
Anjan Dhua
Devendra Kumar Yadav
Easing Parental Worries: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis on Preoperative Education Methods for Reducing Anxiety in Parents of Children Undergoing Surgery
Journal of Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons
anxiety
preoperative education
video-based education
web-based education
title Easing Parental Worries: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis on Preoperative Education Methods for Reducing Anxiety in Parents of Children Undergoing Surgery
title_full Easing Parental Worries: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis on Preoperative Education Methods for Reducing Anxiety in Parents of Children Undergoing Surgery
title_fullStr Easing Parental Worries: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis on Preoperative Education Methods for Reducing Anxiety in Parents of Children Undergoing Surgery
title_full_unstemmed Easing Parental Worries: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis on Preoperative Education Methods for Reducing Anxiety in Parents of Children Undergoing Surgery
title_short Easing Parental Worries: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis on Preoperative Education Methods for Reducing Anxiety in Parents of Children Undergoing Surgery
title_sort easing parental worries a systematic review and network meta analysis on preoperative education methods for reducing anxiety in parents of children undergoing surgery
topic anxiety
preoperative education
video-based education
web-based education
url https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/jiaps.jiaps_276_24
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