Effect of an Illustrated Educational Guide on Anxiety Level among Parents of Children Undergoing Cardiac Catheterization

Cardiac catheterization is a stressful and anxiety induced experience for parents of
children prior to cardiac catheterization. Thus, the responsibilities of a catheterization lab
nurse begin with the assessment of parental anxiety as a part of pre-procedure preparation of
parents. There is an evidence that information offered by CCL pediatric nurses pre-procedure
reduces parental anxiety. Information can be provided by a variety of methods. In this study,
it was provided by a printed material such as illustrated educational guide. Objective: The
aims of the study are to develop an illustrated educational guide about pediatric cardiac
catheterization and evaluate its effectiveness on anxiety level in parents of children
undergoing cardiac catheterization. Setting: This study was conducted at Cardiac
Catheterization Lab, Makassed General Hospital (MGH) Beirut, Lebanon. Subjects: It
comprised of a convenience sample of 100 parents (father or mother). Parents were randomly
allocated into two groups. The control group was educated by using conventional verbal
information method while, the study group was educated by both verbal and use the
illustrated educational guide about pediatric cardiac catheterization. Tools: Two tools were
used for data collection; Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the Illustrated educational Guide
about Pediatric Cardiac Catheterization. Results: During pre-orientation phase, It was found
that the highest percent of parents (74% in the study group and 68% in the control group)
experiencing moderate anxiety before giving information either by using the informative
guide about cardiac catheterization or verbally. Whereas, during post orientation phase, it
was obviously noticed that the majority of parents (90%) in the study group exhibit low
anxiety level after receiving information about cardiac catheterization using illustrated
educational guide, compared to 40% of parents in the control group who received the
information verbally. Conclusion: The results of the study denote using of a developed
illustrated educational guide about pediatric cardiac catheterization was effective in
reduction of anxiety level among parents. Recommendations: Cardiac catheterization nurses
should develop an illustrated educational guide about cardiac catheterization to be used as a
reference for orientation pre- cardiac catheterization procedure and disseminated to parents
before discharge.