Abstract
Children who are admitted to a hospital and undergo an operation frequently exhibit emotional responses such as anxiety about the unknown and thier pain, fear of isolation from their families, etc. At present, there are few research reports on the emotional response that children experience.
With questionaires and interviews, we investigated the emotional responses of 210 children, who had received adenoidectomies, tonsillectomies and or tympanostomy tube insertions from 1981 to 1983.
1) Emotional responses were most frequently observed in children aged 5 years or less, and they tended to decrease with age.
2) Interactions between parents and children, and parents and physicians may be related to the appearance of emotional responses.
3) Emotional responses were most frequent in children who received tonsillectomies, since this operation was more apt to operative pain.
4) Postoperative conditions can also influence the appearance of emotional responses.
We conclude that it is necessary to explain the disease and the operation to the parents and the child: special preoperative and postoperative care is required in younger children: and the proper use of premedication and postoperative pain relief are also necessary.
