FRIDAY, April 14, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Attaining preoperative information from an interactive web-based platform is better than conventional brochure material for children aged 3 to 12 years and their parents, according to a research report published online April 10 in Pediatric Anesthesia.
Gunilla Lööf, from Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, and colleagues instructed children (age 3 to 12 years) and parents to get further preoperative information through an interactive web-based platform (Anaesthesia-Web) or conventional brochure material. Children and parents were asked six questions on the day of surgery. The total question score was compared between the two information options (49 in the Anaesthesia-Web group, 54 in the brochure group).
The researchers found that the total question score was substantially higher in the Anaesthesia-Web group than the brochure group (median score, 27 versus 19.5; P = 0.0076) at the predetermined interim analysis. The total question score was also higher for parents in the Anaesthesia-Web versus the brochure group. In both groups, increasing child age correlated with a higher total question score. The total question score was not influenced by sex in the Anaesthesia-Web group, while in the brochure group, girls scored better than boys.
"The main finding of the present randomized clinical trial was that web-based interactive preoperative information was associated with better information transfer to both children and adults than conventional print material," the authors write. "These findings may have implications for the transfer of health care information to children and parents in general."
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