The effectiveness of mother's recorded voice on the anxiety in pediatric undergoing surgery

Surgery is a negative event that is associated with adverse effects on children. One of the most common complications of surgery is anxiety. The mother's voice can be used as an intervention to control children's anxiety. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of maternal voice on postoperative pre-operation anxiety in children undergoing lower abdominal surgery in 2019.

In this clinical trial, 80 children aged 1-6 years admitted to the pediatric surgery ward of Imam Ali Hospital in Zahedan were selected by available and gradual sampling methods and randomly divided into two groups, intervention (40 people) and control (40. ( Data were collected using the modified- Yale preoperative anxiety scale. In the intervention group, the mother's voice was played before surgery. Anxiety was assessed in both groups when entering the operating room and after the sound was played.

The results showed the mean of the anxiety before playing the mother's voice in the intervention group was (57.12±6.59) which received a significant decrease to (52.82±6.90) after the intervention.  The mean of anxiety was significantly different in the two groups, (intervention and control) (P= 0.0001).

This study shows the effect of a mother's voice on reducing anxiety in children undergoing surgery. Therefore, nurses are advised to use the mother's voice to control anxiety in children undergoing surgery.