How Hospital Tours Affect Preoperative Anxiety in Mothers with Children Undergoing Open- Heart Surgery in Iran: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Background: Parents tend to experience considerable amounts of anxiety before their children undergo open heart surgery. This study was conducted to assess the effects of taking a hospital tour on preoperative anxiety in the mothers of children undergoing open heart surgery. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 96 mothers from Shahid Modarres Hospital in Tehran, Iran, during April to December 2018, were selected through convenience sampling and were assigned to three groups using simple randomization. The oral instruction group (N=32) attended two oral instruction sessions; the hospital tour group (N=32) participated in tours of the operation room and intensive care unit; the control group (N=32) was prepared according to the ward’s routine. Preoperative anxiety was evaluated using the Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory. Data were analyzed in SPSS-20. The ANOVA, paired t-test and Tukey’s test were used for the data analysis. The level of statistical significance was set at P 0.05. Results: The mothers’ anxiety about surgery (F=30.99, P≤0.001) and their scores of state anxiety (F=6.02, P 0.001) differed significantly among the three groups after the intervention. A significant difference was observed between the oral instruction and control groups (P 0.001) and the hospital tour and control groups (P 0.001) regarding the surgery-related anxiety scores. A significant difference was also observed between the oral instruction and control groups (P=0.002) regarding the mothers’ state anxiety scores. Conclusions: The results suggest the greater efficiency of oral instructions versus hospital tours. Nurses can use oral instructions for reducing surgery-related anxiety and state anxiety of mothers before their toddlers’ open heart surgery.