Effects of Supportive Educational Program on Anxiety of Mothers of Children Undergoing the Lumbar Puncture (LP)

Lumbar Puncture test is one of the most stressful diagnostic procedures in pediatric ward that its prescription put mothers under extreme pressure. There are limited interventions in this regard.
Aim: determining the impact of supportive educational program on the anxiety of mothers whose children are undergoing lumbar puncture (LP).
the present study is a randomized controlled clinical trial carried out in 2015. Sixty mothers of children undergoing lumbar puncture and hospitalized 3educational hospitals of Mashhad, Iran, were randomly divided to control group (n=30) and intervention group (n=30). The intervention group received supportive program during a session of 60 min. Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was selected as the research tool. Finally, data were analyzed by Chi-square test, independent t-test using SPSS v.16 software.
The mean age of the mothers was 27.3±5.3 and 26.0±3.1, respectively. The mean pre-interventions maternal manifest anxiety was 51.9±6.2 and 53.4±4.3 out of 80, respectively, in the intervention and control groups. The mean post-interventions maternal manifest anxiety was 44.9±5.1 and 52.7±4.2, respectively, in the intervention and control groups. According to the results of independent t-test, significant difference was observed statistically for the mean maternal manifest anxiety between the two groups (p> 0.001).
Implications for Practice: Regarding the reduction of maternal anxiety in the intervention group, which is possible because of the attention to the emotional needs of mothers, in addition to proper training; this program can be considered as an effective method to reduce maternal anxiety before the LP test.