Parental anxiety in pediatric surgery consultations: the role of health literacy and need for information
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In brief
In brief
Study of 664 parents in pediatric surgery clinics found 46% had limited health literacy and 80% experienced anxiety during consultations. Lower health literacy and higher information needs were significantly associated with increased parental anxiety, highlighting the importance of tailored communication strategies in surgical settings.
Written by the GCMD Library team from the article.
Introduction
Although important, parental anxiety, health literacy and need-for-information in pediatric surgery outpatient clinics have not been extensively studied. Lower educational attainments, minorities and lower socioeconomic status have been associated with limited health literacy. Parental anxiety has been related to health literacy, sex, education and information needs. The aim of this study is to investigate health literacy and need-for-information and their association to parental anxiety in consultations of pediatric surgery.
Materials & methods
We conducted an observational, cross-sectional study in the outpatient pediatric surgery clinic from December 2016 to October 2017. Health literacy, anxiety and need-for-information of parents/guardians of children waiting for pediatric surgical consultation were evaluated. Multivariate regression analysis was used to examine the impact of health literacy and need-for-information on parental/guardian anxiety considering sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the participants.
Results
Almost half (46.1%) of the 664 parents/guardians recruited had limited or problematic health literacy and 79.8% of the sample was classified as being anxious. Parental/guardian anxiety was associated at the multiple regression analysis with parental health literacy level (β = −0.282, p