AN EXAMINATION OF THE ANXIETY RESPONSES OF 5- TO 11-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN DURING AND AFTER HOSPITALIZATION.
Contributors: Wayne State University.
Published: 1988
Number of pages: 285
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: This study examined the anxiety responses of 5- to 11-year-old children (N = 52) during and after hospitalization. Change in anxiety over time was examined as was the relationship between children's anxiety and age, gender, length of hospitalization, previous admission, and parental anxiety.

Data were collected from the children and their parents at admission, discharge, and 7 to 14 days posthospitalization. Children's anxiety was measured using the Child Drawing Hospital, the Child Rating of Anxiety, and the State Anxiety Inventory for Children (8 to 11 years only), and data were analyzed using repeated measures analyses of variance, stepwise multiple regression, and Pearson r correlations.

The children demonstrated a decrease in anxiety from admission to discharge and from admission to posthospitalization. Anxiety remained relatively constant from discharge to posthospitalization.

Age, gender, and previous admission were related to the level of children's anxiety with younger children (5 to 7 years), boys, and children not previously admitted being more anxious and not showing a decrease in anxiety overtime. Shorter hospital stays were associated with higher levels of anxiety, and there were positive and negative relationships between parental anxiety and the various measures of children's anxiety.

Data indicate that hospitalization is an anxiety-producing experience with anxiety continuing posthospitalization. Also some children are more vulnerable for higher levels of anxiety. These children may need different or more intense nursing intervention.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-03, Section: B, page: 0907.

Thesis (PH.D.)--WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY, 1988.

School code: 0254.