Effect of informational Spanish anesthesia video on the level of anxiety and uncertainty with Native Spanish speaking parents. A pilot study.

OBJECTIVES: We hypothesized that showing native Spanish speaking parents, a Spanish video explaining the risks and benefits of anesthesia within two weeks prior to surgery would reduce parental anxiety.

METHODS: Subjects were randomly assigned to video-group or non-video-group. Both groups completed PPUS, STAIT and APAIS tests before and after viewing the videos. Parents repeated the same three tests before the operation on the day of the surgery.

RESULTS: The results revealed a decrease in 3 points on the APAIS assessment in the non-video-group compared to 5.8 points decrease in the video-group. PPUS assessment revealed an average 1.25 points increase in the non-video-group compared to 11 points decrease in video-group. Due to the extremely low sample size, the statistical significance of the findings cannot be verified by statistical methods.

CONCLUSIONS: Hispanic parents who viewed the preanesthesia Spanish-video had lower levels of anxiety compared to those who did not watch the video.