Mixed-method Research Protocol: Evaluation of a Relaxation Technique for Anxiety Management in Pre-surgical Pediatric Patients
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Breathing/relaxation intervention.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Surgeries Requiring a Minimum One Day Hospitalization, Anxiety. Basic parameters: 5 years — 15 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Italy
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Overview
Children exhibit anxiety before surgery: in particular, the literature reports that younger children have a higher level of preoperative anxiety than older children. Preoperative anxiety has been associated with side effects such as postoperative pain and emergence delirium (ED), which are generally treated with the administration of analgesics but can cause nausea, vomiting, and drowsiness. In addition to pharmacological strategies, there are behavioral and psychological techniques commonly referred to as nonpharmacological techniques to reduce preoperative anxiety. These are a broad set of strategies and methods, more or less complex, that can be applied to children and adolescents to help them cope with preoperative agitation and for pain control. Nonpharmacological techniques include distraction techniques that have shown promise in reducing pediatric anxiety and include listening to music , the use of humor, and the use of games . Several researchers have found active distraction to be an effective preoperative anxiolytic in children. Of relevant importance for reducing preoperative anxiety are relaxation techniques as shown in the literature and in particular by a randomized trial that demonstrated the effectiveness of this type of proposed nonpharmacological technique for reducing anxiety and pain in pediatric patients in a preoperative setting. This study plan to investigate the effectiveness of a breathing/relaxation intervention (Ladybug/Sunshine method) on pediatric patients' anxiety levels before surgery.
Interventions
- Other Breathing/relaxation intervention
Ladybug TECHNIQUE is a breathing/relaxation intervention performed in children aged 5 to 10 years and consists of telling the story of a ladybug performing 4 moves and visualizing and performing breathing techniques independently. Afterwards, a drawing is invited. SUNRISE TECHNIQUE is a breathing/relaxation intervention performed in children aged 10 to 15 years and consists of having the child imagine a favorite place. Then they are invited to reflect on the experience either verbally or throug
Primary outcome measures
- Percentage reduction in anxiety score [Time frame: From recruitment to end of surgery]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Age between 5 years and 15 years;
- Admission for minor surgical conditions of low intensity, such as inguinal hernia, phimosis, sebaceous cysts, vascular malformations, skin lesions, ankyloglossus, afferent to the unified pediatric surgery day-surgery service of AOU Meyer;
- Knowledge of the Italian language and ability to express oneself;
Exclusion criteria
- Presence of cognitive impairment reported in history
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Open label
- Primary purpose
- Supportive care
Study locations
Italy · 1 center
- Meyer Children's Hospital IRCCS, Firenze — Florence
Identifiers
NCT: NCT06846944 · LADYBUG