Psychological Preparation of Children for Hospitalization and Surgery
Most medical staff will agree that it is important to reduce child anxiety prior to medical procedures, hospitalization, or surgery. Certain children are at increased risk for responding poorly to these circumstances, including those who have a history of responding poorly to medical situations, have a negative prior experience with a similar or the same medical procedure, are younger than 7 years old, have a predisposition to avoidant coping styles, have parents who have a punishing style of response or foster dependency/avoidance behavior, have parents who cope poorly with stress themselves, or have parents who are in a high state of anxiety relative to the impending procedure.
